Black is Beltza

SYNOPSIS:

October 1965. The giant figures of San Fermín are invited to parade on New York’s Fifth Avenue, but not all of them can participate: for racial reasons, North American leaders have forbidden the black giants to participate in the event. Taking their inspiration from true events, Muguruza, Cano and Alderete tell the story of Manex Unanue, a fictional character given the task of carrying one of those black giants. Bemoaning the fact that his companions have accepted the decision imposed on them, Manex decides not to return home. Seen through the young boy’s eyes, we discover the events that revolutionized the society of the mid-’60s: demonstrations after the death of Malcolm X, the bizarre atmosphere of Warhol’s workshop, the relationship woven between the Black Panthers and the Cuban secret service and the early days of the hippy movement, enveloped in the psychedelic atmosphere of the first music macro festivals.

For more information: http://www.blackisbeltza.eus/

2018 Screened at the San Sebastian International Film Festival: https://www.sansebastianfestival.com/2018/sections_and_films/zinemira/7/660554/in

2018, Directed by Fermin Muguruza, color, in Basque, Spanish, English, French & Arabic with English subtitles, 80 minutes.

Currently available on Netflix.

About the Director – Fermin Muguruza

Founder of the bands Kortatu, Negu Gorriak and Kontrabanda, Fermin Muguruza has directed the documentary Checkpoint Rock: Canciones desde Palestina (2009), closing film of the San Sebastian Human Rights Film Festival which was presented in the San Sebastian International Film Festival (SSIFF) Zinemira that same year. Next Music Station, a series about today’s music in several Arab countries, screened in SSIFF Zinemira in 2011. In 2012 he presented Zuloak in the SSIFF Zabaltegi. In 2013 co-directed with Daniel Gómez No More Tour, a documentary about their last tour, and in 2016 presented, in the SSIFF Zinemira, Nola?, a documentary about New Orleans ten years after Hurricane Katrina. He is a participant in the collective film Gure Oroitzapenak, which will also premiered at last year’s SSIFF Zinemira.