Amir Ganjavie, UniversalCinema Magazine (UM): In this film festival, I see that there is a theme of sustainability. For example, the red carpet used in the film festival is made from sustainable materials. Can you please elaborate on these aspects, and also provide examples of a few films about sustainability in your program?
Jose Luis Rebordinos (JR): In the last year, we started off by introducing a working day of sustainability. Then one month ago, we presented a project for the next year, promoting sustainability in this world. The red carpet was made from recycled materials for the first time in this film festival. We hope that the red carpet symbolizes our promotion for sustainability and will encourage filmmakers to find their own ways of integrating sustainability to their future films. Currently, we are working in many different ways with unsustainable energy, such as the amount of paperwork, and with the travels. Specifically, for travelling, it generates a lot of carbon emissions in the air. When we had a lot of guests and they had to come from various countries and continents, we recognize that it challenges the theme of sustainability. We hope that in ten years, our society works together to find ways to reduce carbon emissions with alternative sources of energy. If nothing is done to change for our planet, we will consider an action plan to help contribute to minimizing carbon emissions.
(UM):Sigourney Weaver’s was featured on the film festival’s poster. I was curious how you decided to pick her to be the face of this festival for this year and its relationship with Spain.
(JR): I think she has a special relationship with the Spanish cinema. She was selected for the Donostia Award five years ago. Since then, we kept in contact and our relationship with her was wonderful. She’s a very intelligent and capable woman, and a very friendly individual. For these reasons, we asked her about the possibility to be our new muse this year. Sigourney said, “It was very good. I agree. I am very happy.” We started about 4 years ago with this style of posters featuring images with different stars to be the face of the poster for our film festival. The first one was Isabelle Huppert, then Penélope Cruz, then Willem Dafoe, and now Sigourney Weaver is our 4th. I don’t know if we will change this poster concept in the near future, but for the moment, we want to make this as part of our overall theme.
(UM):A couple of days ago, I was in Barcelona and I went to Picasso Museum. When touring the museum, I noticed that Spanish culture are very liberal of sexuality, and support open-relationships. It’s a very progressive constituent in terms of sexuality. I feel the same here.
(JR): Yes. In our current team, we have more females than males representing our film festivals. Today, the females in our film festival occupy positions including deputies, financial director, communications director, and also 7 of 9 departments are headed by women. We’re always trying to be progressive in gender equality, and at present time, , especially for females, they are not treated equally as males in the cinema industry. For that, we have different things in the festival to show our support in the progression for recognizing female talent in the film industry. Every year at the end of each festival event, we make every effort to create a statement and acknowledge gender equality. You can see that in our website. We also recognize that many of the female and male talent and guests are parents of young kids, so we organize a safe space for the kids during the film festival. It’s the place where all the guests could leave their children to spend the whole day while the adults work. So, in our different masterclasses and meetings, we always promote gender equality.
(UM):At Cannes Film Festival. I realize that about seventy to eighty films, they had lead actresses. With more films featuring lead actresses and female characters, have you considered expanding your policy in giving more award categories to help further promote gender equality?
(JR): We will always have two awards. One for the principal role, and one for supporting actor. We have two. It’s possible to offer more than one awards in the same category. It’s possible to have the principal role to a woman and a man, together- for a one-man lover, for two men. There are a lot of possibilities, but for us, it’s important to focus on the award category itself, regardless of gender. Why? Because we don’t have any festival awards that separate a female director and a male director. But with the rise in gender equality, I think that may change in the next years. For example, Berlin was the first to expand the awards categories, then Mar del Plata in Spain followed, and then Huelva. After Huelva, the Dutch Academy changed too, and they still managed to maintain the same national price. The most important part of the festival is things will change year after year, because the gender equality has become a socially accepted progression. Some people, may not agree, but many have started to acknowledge that there is more than just the gender. There’s the masculine gender, feminine gender. non-binary, and even two-spirit. For that, we will learn as we go forward in what ultimately becomes socially acceptable for all kinds of people.
(UM):Okay, understood. In terms of film. selection, what is the relationship between you as a festival director and the programming? Who makes the final decision about the film? Is it the programmer who makes the decision, or is it you who has to make the decision?
(JR): We have a selection committee. They are twelve people. We also have delegates in different parts of the world. Normally, the delegates select these films. They recommend and they organize the screenings in the different countries who watch the films, and ultimately, the last decision is made by myself. For the most part of the process, it’s democratic. It’s a decision between all the selection committees who are working together as a team.
Sometimes, it may not be possible to make the best decision between all of us, because we all have diverse point of views.
(UM):Do you have any kind of criteria you use to determine a good film, and making selecting them for the festival? Are there specific kinds of films that you’re looking for?
(JR): That is very difficult to say, because normally we want to select the film with various themes. All I could say is that a good film focuses on a very good subject, and makes a good impact to us and the audience who watches them.
We want to have the films that challenges the traditional ways of filmmaking, – to find new ways for the cinema. We also have to have a balance between the various types of film that are commonly seen in the industry, the mainstream, and the more experimental films between different countries. That is important in making diverse film selections. I love to say that our selection is like a monster – like a Frankenstein – because much like a Frankenstein, there’s a lot of different pieces to be presented. The films are very different, and can be difficult for the audience to interpret, but at the same time, the films are very hypnotic, very special.
(UM): Do you have any kind of quota, in terms of selection from different regions?
(JR): No. We always want to have films from Asia, from North America, from Latin America. We don’t have a quota. And it’s possible that one year, we don’t have a certain film selected from certain countries, due to lack of submissions, quality of work, etc. What’s most important is finding the best films to be featured in our film festival.
(UM):And you don’t have a kind of gender quota, as well, correct?
(JR): No, we are against the gender quota, in the main competition. In some years, we will have very strong films in the main competition. Last year, San Sebastian was known for their film festival where women were the lead winners in many categories. In Cannes, three women won 3 or 4. And Canne’s is one of the most prestigious and competitive festivals in the world, which is very refreshing. The most important part is that, these films are very strong and very good. All I can say is that something is changing in the cinema industry. The rise of women is very strong, and that is very good for us.
(UM):In terms of COVID impacts and finance, and the fact that you have the capacity, does it impact your financial, in terms of sponsorship?
(JR): Last year we had a budget of €8 million and a half. In the box office, we lost €600,000 and in sponsors, €700,000 we lost because of the COVID. We had to adapt by making the festival smaller with limited guests, and cutting any other non-discretionary costs as we could. This year, there will be a bit of a bigger budget, so it will be similar, but we have a lot more people and guests here.
(UM):Do you also have regular events during the year or just during the festival period?
(JR): We are part of a school of cinema, that is run by Filmoteca Vasca Basque Archive, film archive. San Sebastian Film Festival, and the Elías Querejeta film school. So, the 3 institutions are working together to have a film program during the whole year. We have panels of people who are coming to the school, for example, [inaudible] from Cannes. We are working on collaborating with the students. They can do the internship in the festival and in the other institutions. Now we are currently preparing for next year’s edition because it’s our 17th anniversary. While the festival takes just ten days to run, we continue to try different activities related with those institutions that we are involved to see how we can support and grow our festival presence.
(UM):I imagine that you also travel to find films, to get in touch with film agents.
(JR): Yes. Now, with the challenges around COVID, as you know, we normally start in October with Tokyo Film Festival. Then, we go to Berlin in February and so on. We travel not only for festivals, but also to Paris twice a year to watch the whole production of French movies or to Germany, to Holland.