Imaginaires basques et cinéma : trois explorations filmiques
This research-creation project explores Basque imaginary and its expression in cinema. For this purpose, three films will be studied in order to uncover the various facets of this imaginary and its evolutions. The first chapter will focus on a television mini-series directed by Orson Welles, Around the World with Orson Welles (1955), more specifically the first two episodes, shot in the Basque Country. We will observe how Welles utilizes his persona and his knowledge of ‘mise en scène’ in order to mythologize the Basque people and share their culture across the world at a time when said culture is strongly censored in Spain by Franco’s regime. The second chapter proposes a study of Ama Lur (1968) directed by Nestor Basterretxea and Fernando Larruquert, a film whose style represents an attempt to transcribe the Basque language in visual form and was the first Basque feature film produced under the dictatorship. Finally, the last chapter will analyze Julio Medem’s Vacas (1992). It will focus on how Medem employs recurring elements of the Basque imaginary and hijacks them so as to deconstruct them critically.  To conclude, we’ll take a succinct look at the film Euskara ez dut mintzatzen, the creative endeavor accompanying this thesis. We’ll briefly discuss the creative process behind this documentary essay as well as the influence the written, theoretical portion ultimately had on the making of the movie.
basque mythe histoire culture cinema Basque imaginary myth history culture nationalism identity