it was quite late. Even though there’s no right moment to start writing, people usually start much sooner. But I’ve always liked reading and that passion I felt about literature has surely had an impact.

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Could you explain to us which is the process creating a script?

It’s not going to be exactly the same if we are working on a series, documentary or a fiction feature film or a short film but roughly speaking, the process is similar. I would divide it into two. On the one hand, there is the literary script and on the other the technical script. I work mostly creating the literary script and the technical script, in our production house, is done alongside the director.

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So, the literary script is writing the story, and then, in the technical script the shots, the music… are taken into account. Nevertheless, when you write the literary script you are already taking into account those things so you can later suggest them to the director or the camera director. But, as I’ve said, I work mostly on literary scripts  but as both of them are highly tied up to each other, I take part in the technical script too.

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Since you started in this industry to nowadays, how has the audiovisual industry changed regarding technology?

That’s a good question and it could have many different answers. I think that there’s been two major changes in the audiovisual industry. On the one hand, we are seeing that with the arrival of the new digital platforms such as Netflix and HBO, the cinema is not the only place in which films are being released. Previously, it used to be the only releasing place but not anymore and now with the Covid-19 pandemic we’ve seen more releases on digital platforms. Our laptop is becoming our movie theater.

 

On the other hand, series are becoming as popular as films and not only on digital platforms but on the viewer’s minds too. In these last years digital platforms have been releasing many series as they’ve seen that they are a huge success. So, I would say that on the one hand, where we see films has changed due to platforms and on the other hand, films have lost ground to the series. ​

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       "A project's work ends when you have already made as many showings as you wanted"

                                                                                                                    - Lutxo Egia

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How was Adabaki created?

To be able to make cinema you need money and that money comes in a big way from public institutions. It’s true that private financiation is also needed but mainly you are going to get money from public institutions. Here, in the Basque Country, that public institution could be Eusko Jaurlaritza for example. But to get the money you need a legal structure and that would be the production houses. And to create Euskara Jendea we created Adabaki. 

That would be the technical answer but another answer would be that three friends got together. Mikel Arredondo, Hibai Castro and me. Hibai was a camera director and Mikel had previously worked in production. We created our small production house and a cooperative and since that day we’ve worked on so many projects… We did that series (Euskara Jendea), and we’ve done 6-7 short films, a feature film that has been in Donostiako Zinemaldia and a documentary that has been this year in the festival. Well, we wanted to start working on cinema.

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Nowadays how many people make up the production house?

We are still 3. Our formula has always been a cooperative and ours by law is called a small cooperative so we have to be three. Depending on what we are doing we don’t work alone, for example, we don’t work alone in feature films. In July, we filmed a short film called Sugandila and we worked with people not only during the filming but also with the costume team beforehand… we were at least 50 people working on the short film. But a production house does not need that many people. We work mostly in production, I might write the scripts and Hibai might be the camera director but we mostly work finding locations, hiring actors, with the costume crew…

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How many projects do you carry forward each year?

Until now 2 but some of those projects last 2-3 years. But these last few years we’ve worked on one or two short films or a documentary and a feature film. Normally 2 projects per year. For example, we did Gure oroitzapenak. Gure oroitzapenak was a project proposed to us by the writer Joseba Sarrionandia. This project is composed of 12 short films that create a feature film. 12 short films, 12 work teams, each one with its own director, sound technician… in total 300 people took part in this project. Cinema is engineering, so many contracts, so many relationships… Cinema on the outside is a 1h30 delight but it’s a lot of hard work and very expensive.

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Are you working on any project at the moment?

Yes, we are finishing a documentary called Caminho Longe. To be honest we released it at the festival of San Sebastian. We made a Crowdfunding page and 600 people helped us so we are preparing pre-premieres for them in Urduliz, Hernani and Lapurdi on January 8th, 9th and 10th. We don’t know what will happen because we have already had to delay them. That’s the thing, to a production house work doesn’t end when the documentary/film is finished. After that we need to find showings/projections and there are two ways to do that, we can work with a distributor or we can do it on our own. We’ve decided to find those connections on our own and right now we have relationships with the Golem Theaters in Bilbo and Iruña and with Sade Theaters in Donostia. Then we have to go to different villages’ theaters… and honestly, it is a lot of work. A project's work ends when you have already made as many showings as you wanted.

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Then, in July we filmed Sugandila and right now we are editing it and we also have a short film for next year. Right now, we have stopped for a bit as it isn’t the best moment. Since March we’ve lost and delayed many different projects.

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Have you had difficulties working during this pandemic?

Yes, we’ve had great difficulties. I, for one, was very surprised when everything went well with… Do you know Josu Martinez? Josu Martinez is a cinema teacher in Leioa and he’s made many documentaries, many short films… and with us he is doing a pentalogy. He’s created an imaginary town called Bizkarsoro which is based on his hometown Baigorri. We have already filmed 3 of the short films. Ama is a really moving short film based on a poem written by Joseba Sarrionandia. It takes place in Bizkarsoro, supposedly in Iparralde, France during the first year of the First World War. Anti is a really beautiful short film and is winning lots of prizes. It takes place after the First World War ends. Then, Sugandila takes place during the Second World War. We still have two other short films to film. We filmed Sugandila in July and we were about 30 in the team, well, if we take into account the extras, we were about 70. We were afraid that someone wouldn’t appear because they might have been confined and there are people that are indispensable, such as the director. So, it was difficult but luckily everyone showed up and everything went great.

 

I feel like it is more difficult to film fiction than documentaries right now. For fiction everything needs to work perfectly, the weather, the raccord and now also the pandemic. There can’t be anybody missing or it won’t work out. On the other hand, in documentaries if you are going to interview someone and suddenly they are in quarantine you can rearrange the date and interview them another day. So, I feel like filming fiction right now is more difficult but I feel like on a Basque Country level the filming number has not decreased, it has stayed the same as before the pandemic, only that now we have more difficulties to film. 

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What project do you feel more proud of? Why?

I feel very proud of Euskara Jendea. Euskara Jendea was the work of two years. For me, the script writing was really nice. Euskara Jendea is a really beautiful book written by a Navarrese writer and we adapt it. On the one hand we had to adapt the book to a script but we also interviewed 36-40 people.  I learnt a lot in the process and we were able to translate the documentary in 8 languages, Japanese included! I feel like Euskara Jendea was a really decent and good series with very little budget. Also, it was our first project as Adabaki.

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       "Cinema on the outside is a 1h30 delight but it’s a lot of hard work and very expensive"

                                                                                                                   - Lutxo Egia

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Regarding the work process, do you feel like there is a big difference between TV and Cinema?

I think that it mostly is the comfort, easiness and time while working. Television’s deadlines are more strict. I feel like in documentaries and fiction the deadline is more loose. On the other hand, if it is a public TV they won’t have problems with the budget but in cinema you will have to find the financiation. I haven’t done TV so I’m talking from what I can see from the outside. But for me, personally, filming films is much more attractive than TV.

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If we talk about gender equality, would you say that there is equality in this industry?

No, there is not. I think that cinema isn’t better nor worse than other sectors regarding gender equality. I know the art world, especially literature, music and cinema and I feel like the situation is similar in all of them but I feel like we are seeing more and more women in cinema in every area. And why do I say every area? I would say that there are plenty of women in the creative part but we are slowly starting to see similarity in numbers in jobs such as pole vaulters, film editors, sound technicians… During filming we can clearly see the inequality and we hope that this will improve.

 

I think that it is easier to find equality in directors. When we did Gure oroitzapenak we told Joseba Sarrionandia that we wanted a similar number of women and men as directors and at the end we had 7 men and 5 women. But then each director chooses their work team and in production and edition we can see very few women. 

At least cinema has a good thing and it is that to carry forward a project the help of public institutions is indispensable, in our case Eusko Jaurlaritza. Usually the public institutions establish a gender policy and the work team must comply with it to be able to apply for the grant. Even though the institutions are helping, there is still a long way until equality.

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What advice would you give to someone who is starting / wants to start in this world?

I’m not the one to give any advice. I feel like this is a thrilling work field but it is really complicated. So more than an advice I would say that you have to start every project with illusion if you want them to succeed, because there is always time for disappointment later on in the project. Also, cinema has, what I would say is a good thing, a lot of teamwork and that’s something really enriching as a person.

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