Nestor Basterretxea
Directing
Biography
Nestor Basterretxea Arzadun (Bermeo, 1924 - Hondarribia, 2014) was a Basque artist. In the 1950s and '60s, he spearheaded along with other artists such as Jorge Oteiza, Remigio Mendiburu, or Eduardo Chillida, an avant-garde artistic movement concerned with the crisis of Basque identity, and formally a special focus on large volumes and the concept of emptiness.
Known For
Initially a made-to-order documentary on Spain, the film becomes an open-ended work-in-the-making about the creative process. “Settling in the Spanish capital to make a documentary, Hanoun sketches out for us the different steps involved in making a film. The author turns his hesitations, his doubts and difficult working conditions into the constituents of his work”. (Raphaël Bassan)
October in Madrid
In 1963, the businessman Juan Huarte Beaumont, art patron, collector and founder of X Films, a film production company based in Madrid, invited the Basque artists Nestor Basterretxea and Jorge Oteiza to make a promotional short about his companies. Certain conditions were attached to the commission: the artists were each to present finished scripts without any contact with each other about them. Huarte chose Basterretxea's script, and Basterretxea directed the film, which was given the title 'Operación H' in postproduction.
Operación H
In this short documentary film about Basque pelota, in addition to showing the different modalities (basket ball, handball, paddle, ratchet...), well-known pelota players of the time take part.
Pelotari
'Ama Lur' is a documentary, directed by Nestor Basterretxea and Fernando Larruquert, that premiered in San Sebastián in 1968, and it is considered the foundation of Basque cinema.
Mother Earth
In the foothills of the Pyrenees in the province of Huesca lies the medieval village of Alquézar. The film takes a journey through this religious site using images of the Colegiata de Santa María church, the paintings it houses and the capitals in its cloisters. It also draws on images of narrow and steep empty streets, the Semana Santa procession and sculptures of Christ on the cross.