Euskadi Japan 2023: retrospective of Japanese director Hiroshi Teshigahara at the SSIFF

The San Sebastian International Film Festival is devoting its latest classic film cycle, co-organised with the Basque Film Archive in collaboration with the Japan Foundation and the Etxepare Basque Institute in the framework of the Euskadi-Japan 2023 programme, to film director Hiroshi Teshigahara (1927-2001).

The 71st San Sebastián Film Festival, running from September 22nd to 30th, will feature the complete filmography of this relatively unknown director. Two of his films were screened at previous editions of the Festival: ‘Suna no onna / Woman in the Dunes’ – in the “Ashes and Diamonds” cycle in 1985 – and ‘Moetsukita chizu / The Man without a Map (Moetsukita chizu)’ – in the “Japan in Black” retrospective organised in 2008. The cycle will be complemented by the publication of the book by Inuhiko Yomota, ‘Avant-garde chronicles. Conversations with Hiroshi Teshigahara’, translated from Japanese by Daniel Aguilar.

Euskadi Japan 2023

The initiative ´Euskadi Japan 2023´ endeavors to enhance the visibility of the already-existing relations between the Basque Country and Japan across various sectors. The aim of the project is to strengthen ties between the two regions and create new collaborations in different areas including culture, gastronomy, tourism, economics, sports. The Etxepare Basque Institute works to strengthen ties in terms of cultural relations and collaborations between the Basque Country and Japan.

In the course of 2023, a bilateral program will be implemented in Japan and the Basque Country, focusing on fostering multi-sectoral activities in both regions. As for the cultural sector, this project will promote Basque culture and creation in all its disciplines in Japan, and at the same time bring Japanese culture to the Basque Country.

Some of the actions that have already been carried out in the framework of the project are the Gonzalo Chillida exhibition at the Cervantes Institute of Tokyo, a screening of the film Unicorn Wars at the Niigata International Animation Film Festival, the Gutun Zuria comic exchange, the launch of the Basque language and culture programme at  Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, promoted by the Etxepare Basque Institute, and the Yoshida Brothers concert at the Victoria Eugenia Theatre in San Sebastián.

In addition to the Hiroshi Teshigahara retrospective at the San Sebastian Film Festival, other activities will take place in the coming months, including the exchange between San Sebastian’s jazz festival Jazzaldia and the Kanazawa Jazz Festival and the Euskal Astea (Basque Week) held in October in Tokyo.

Japan holds a crucial position as a priority nation within the Euskadi Basque Country 2025 Strategy. In recent years, the relationship between the Basque Country and Japan has strengthened significantly. Notably, a mutual interest and appreciation for each other´s culture has become increasingly evident, particularly in the cultural sphere.