Equis Films. Breve historia de un mecenazgo

Equis Films tells the history of the X Films production company, set up by the businessman from Navarra, Juan Huarte, at the beginning of the 1960’s, through the live testimonies of several artists and film-makers who worked there. A history of a sponsorship is as brief as it is intense, as passionate as it is mysterious. Such diverse artists as Jorge Oteiza, Néstor Basterretxea, Rafael Ruiz Balerdi, José Antonio Sistiaga, Ramón Masats, Chumy Chúmez or Luis Eduardo Aute worked there, in search of a new language to express themselves under young film directors who were then taking their first steps, such as José Luis Garci or José Luis García Sánchez; and others who were better known, such as Jordi Grau or Antonio Giménez-Rico. From the 1970’s, under the management of José María González Sinde, the production company diversified its interests and brought avant garde films together with fiction that sought to break the line marked by the films produced under Franco’s rule and with extensive ethnographic and social documentary production. In 1978, with the departure of Juan Huarte from the ownership of the production company, X Films suffered a mortal blow. Two of the initial partners and José María González Sinde also resigned. The production company was left in the hands of Adolfo Oliete, prolonging its agony until 1981, in a mysterious final that has never been fully clarified.

José Luis Pimoulier Laspeñas (12-03-1965)

Following several years in a production company, during which time he did various work for ETB, Pamplona City Council, Government of Navarra and various advertising agencies in Pamplona, and he worked freelance for different national television channels (Antena 3, Tele 5, Canal Sur, Canal Plus Deportes, for the programme, “El día después”), he founded the Visual Comunicación production company with another two partners. During this new phase, he participated in diverse documentary projects as director and photography director.

Filmography

• Últimamente
• Nicolás
• Renacer

Carlos Bassas del Rey (7-05-1974)

Graduate in Journalism and Doctor in Public Communication from the University of Navarra. He is currently working as a scriptwriter for the Visual Comunicación production company and he gives language and audiovisual storytelling classes at the Public University of Navarra and at the CTL Image and Sound School. He has written many scripts for advertising spots, short and feature length fiction and documentary films, in addition to organizing, running and teaching various courses related to film-making, working as a film critic in the press, on radio and television and organizing two exhibitions on different aspects of the seventh art. In 2007, he won the Plácido Award for the Best Original Feature Length Film Script in the black genre of the International Black Film Festival in Manresa and in 2009, he was the publishing coordinator of the book “Tasio 25”, published by the Government of Navarra to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the film, “Tasio”, by Montxo Armendáriz. He has also written two novels: “Aki y el misterio de los cerezos” (Ed. Toromítico-Grupo Almuzara) and “El honor es una mortaja” (Ed. Tapa Negra-Grupo Almuzara).