´Negu Hurbilak´ receives a special mention from the jury at the Locarno International Film Festival

The 76th Locarno Film Festival, running from August 2nd to 12th, is one of Europe’s leading A-list festival festivals. This year ‘Negu Hurbilak’ had its world premiere at Locarno and was honoured with a Jury Special Mention Award in the ‘Cineasti del Presente’ section, aimed at emerging global talents. 

‘Negu Hurbilak´ is a Basque-Catalan film directed by Colectivo Negu – Ekain Albit, Adrià Roca, Nicolau Mallofré and Mikel Ibarguren – and produced by Maluta Films and Cornelius Films. The authors are students at the Catalunya based film school ESCAC and this is their first feature film. ‘Negu Hurbilak’, Colectivo Negu´s debut feature, is a low-budget film shot over two years. Jone Laspiur is the only professional actor in the case in the film; the rest are residents of Zubieta, Navarra. 

Set in 2010, ‘Negu Hurbilak´ tells the story of an escape against the backdrop of the Basque conflict in the village of Zubieta. In the words of the collective, the jury´s recognition is "the way to crown the experience. Being here was already a prize and we believe that this recognition will open many doors for the future”.