Gaulana | X Films film 2025

Gaulana
Pablo Casanueva, Spain, 2026, 61 min, DCP, Spanish subtitles and electronic English subtitles.

Light pollution increases alongside the advance of capitalism. The world is lit up in the name of security and development. However, darkness is a safe haven for those forced to flee their homes. This is a job —lan— in the night —gau—, gaulana: a film about the people who, throughout the history of the muga (the border), have sought shelter in the darkness. They were the prisoners who escaped from Ezkaba, who tried to use the stars to navigate their way to France; also, the Portuguese in the middle of the last century; today, the migrants who try to cross the Bidasoa. There are small gaps without light along that line which divides the territory — spaces where political and police pressure remains in the dark.

Pablo Casanueva —Ribeseya, Asturias, 1995— is a filmmaker and visual artist who holds a degree in Audiovisual Communication from the University of Burgos, having also completed an exchange stay —SICUE— at the University of the Basque Country —Bilbao—. His work investigates the relationships between memory, territory, and politics through film, archives, and landscape. He has directed feature films and short films selected for national and international festivals, and he also undertakes photographic and audiovisual exhibition work. He has participated in residencies and training programmes at EICTV —Cuba—, Huarte Contemporary Art Centre, LABoral, FICX Pro, and La Plantación.

Pablo Casanueva