i>Euskadi: le Pays Basque et son folklore / Euskadi été 1982

Year1982 Duration55 min. DirectorOtar Iosselliani WriterOtar Iosselliani PhotographyMichel Maiofils EditorDominique Belfort Production FR3, INA

1983 Quinzaine des Réalisateurs, Festival de Cannes

A look at the two villages in their festive version by the Georgian filmmaker, Otar Iosseliani, who filmed (in black and white and in colour) the great Corpus Christi festival in Helette and the presentation of the pastoral “Pete Basaburu” offering performed and sung by the inhabitants of Pagol in the summer of 1982. In the first part (with some scenes also filmed in Baigorri), Iosseliani observes the daily life of the Basque farmers: cheese production, sheep shearing, milking the sheep, working in the fields, haymaking... to leisure time, represented by playing pelota, dance rehearsals, mus games and the preparations of the pastoral offering in Pagol. A grandfather shows his grandson an old song in one of the most touching scenes. At night, around the family table, Iosseliani witnesses the long sing-songs around the table. Narrated in his own voice and in Georgian, the film is a song, a “testimony”, like the director himself in the final credits and a sign of respect towards, as he said in his opening dedicatory, “this proud and courageous people who, throughout its history, has managed to keep its originality and its language, the oldest in Europe”.

Otar Iosselliani

OTAR IOSSELIANI
(Tbilisi, Georgia, 1934)

Maths and music student, he began to direct his first short films in 1958 and made his first feature film in 1967, Falling Leaves, a critic of the corrupt political system which won an award in Cannes. In his subsequent works, he delved into his denunciation of Soviet politics where his films were finally banned. He began the 1980’s in exile in France, where he made television projects, such as Euzkadi été 1982, and he ended up putting his name to some of his most well-known film, such as Favourites of the Moon (1984), winning an award in Venice and again for And Then There Was Light in 1989. In 1982, he won the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for Monday Morning (2002). The Georgian director says that everything that happens in his films has to do with “the weakness of the human being for the yearning to own”.

Filmography:

Acuarela (1958)
Song about a flower (1959)
April (1962)
Cast iron (1964)
Falling Leaves (1967)
Georgian ancient songs (1968)
There Once was a Singing Blackbird (1970)

Pastorale (1976)
Sept pièces pour cinéma noir et blanc / Lettre d'un cinéaste (1982)
Euzkadi été 1982 (1983)

Favorites of the Moon ( (1984)
A little monastery in tuscany (1989)
And then there was light (1989) 

Chasing Butterflies (1992)

Seule, Géorgie (1994)
Brigands-Chapter VII (1996)
Farewell, homes sweet home(1999)

Monday Morning (2002)
Gardens in Autumn (2006)
Chantrapas (2010)

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Promoted by
Gobierno de Navarra
Organized by
NICDO
With the aid of
Con la financiación del Gobierno de España. Instituto de la Cinematografía y las Artes Audiovisuales Acción Cultural Española Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia Financiado por la Unión Europea. NexGenerationEU
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