Session 1

10 watts bakarrik
Oier Fuentes
Spain, 2022, 19 min, digital, colour, Basque
Scriptwriter and editor Oier Fuentes / Sound Xabier Erkizia

Infernuan
Iñigo Jimenez Bohoyo
Spain, 2022, 13 min, digital, colour, Spanish
Sound Xavier Erkizia & Luca Rullo. Editor Pello Gutierrez (Zazpi t´erdi). Animation Unai Ruiz Credits Fran Fraca & Ignacio Bilbao. Photo retouching Miguel Costa

We could say this is a session about traces. On the one hand, in 10 watts bakarrik, by Oier Fuentes, we find the imprint of a pirate radio station in Basque in Arantza, Navarra. The broadcaster was on the air until the 1960s, and was set up by the man who tells its story in the voiceover. It seems that, out of fifteen stations that were on the air, only his lasted so long and it seems that the local people were very pleased with everything that came from these microphones, according to a bertso singer who we hear in an old recording. On the other hand, Infernuan, by Iñigo Jiménez, takes us through the traces of the Infierno ("Hell") neighbourhood of Donostia. A place that is home to the old Plásticas Oramil factory, which at one time produced armaments and is now home to several immigrants who prefer this roof to the street or returning to their own country. In this case, our narrator is Rachid, an inhabitant of the derelict factory. Inviting us into the building, he tells us -among other things- how two guys tried to erase their fingerprints with corrosive liquid to avoid being identified and deported. It seems paradoxical for a film that invites us to follow traces to show us a reality in which people try to wipe out their own fingerprints. But at the same time, it makes total sense, because in a way, at this session both Fuentes and Jiménez try to make the invisible visible. Both pieces tell us stories of the past, connecting them to the present with archive shots, recordings and sounds, reminding us that repression is always around us.

Lur Olaizola