euskalkultura.eus

Buenos Aires, Argentina.  “Asier and I grew up together in the street conflicts in Pamplona in the eighties.  Afterwards, we took different paths: Asier stayed there continuing to be active in clearly political activities, and I moved to Madrid.  I had a dream: to be an actor.  At the school of dramatic arts I made a lot of friends from all over.  The years passed and my dream to be an actor was coming true, little by little.”

“In March 2002, Asier disappears; he had joined ETA.  Afterwards, he was arrested and jailed in France.  He would spend the next 8 years in jail.  During this time, I would talk to my friends a lot about Asier, how special our friendship was.  But, slowly, the conversation derived into questions that I didn’t have the answers to: How could I make them understand my friendship with an ETA militant?  How could I make them understand what could make someone make a decision that was hard to assimilate?

With these questions, Merino describes his own documentary Asier ETA biok.  In fact, the film tries to respond to those questions.  “In July 2010, when Asier was released, I took a camera intending on answering these questions, and incidentally why not try to align different positions.  But my plan wasn’t as easy as I had hoped…,” explained the Basque actor/director that will be in Buenos Aires from April 3-14^th to attend the premiere of his documentary.

Functions in Buenos Aires

Asier ETA biok will arrive to theaters in Buenos Aires as part of the Independent Film Festival BAFICI with screenings on April 9^th at 22:55 at the Village Recoleta 2; on Thursday the 10^th, at 20:45 also at the Village Recoleta; and on Saturday April 12^th at 19:10 at the San Martin Cultural Center.

The film directed by Aitor and Amaia Merino debuted last September in the 61^st edition of the San Sebastian Film Festival where it was awarded the Irizar prize for Basque film.  At this the 16^th edition of the BAFICI festival Asier ETA biok will be shown in the Panorama Section and it will also compete in the festival’s Human Rights contest.  It is recommended to secure tickets for the BAFICI in advance.  For more information on the festival, here.

-Trailer of Asier ETA biok, here.