Basques in Boise

Javi Aitor Zubizarreta was in the Basque Country when he heard he had won the Princess Grace Foundation Film Undergraduate Scholarship, Cary Grant Award 2010 following the release of his film Artzainak: Shepherds and Sheep.

"To find out in Lekeitio, the town my great-grandparents left to come to America was just overwhelming.

"More than that; the movie''s about my grandfather and what he went through. Knowing where I am today is a result of what he did... it felt like something had gone full circle."

Eitb has been following Javi closely since the release of Artzainak, a documentary he made with his classmate Jacob Griswold. Originally a university project, the film looks at the lives of Idaho''s shepherds, traditionally mostly Basque immigrants though now more commonly from other migrant communities.

Growing up as part of a strong Basque community in Boise, Javi was always fascinated by the story of the first generation of Basques that landed in the US. Most of them, like his grandfather, spent long, difficult months in the mountains around Boise herding sheep.

Javi''s grandfather Zubizarreta, from Gernika, died before he was born, though much of Javi''s film work pays homage to him, the next being no exception: A short fictional work entitled What Aitxitxe Said (What Grandfather Said):

"They tell me my grandfather was a man of few words. Well, what did he say..?" is a question that fascinates Javi and one that serves as the premise of his next work.

"I''m framing each episode of the film with a conversation between grandfather and grandson: What was it like when you first came? What was it like when your son came out? What was it like when you went home?

"I''m using bertsolaris to structure the film: Bertsolaris (improvisers of Basque verse) start with their last sentence and work towards it; I''m starting with who I am and working my way towards it."

The Princess Grace foundation-USA, a non-profit, public charity, supports emerging talents in the arts by awarding grants in the form of scholarships, apprenticeships and fellowships.

Another of this year''s winner in the category of Dance is Brett Perry, member of the Boise based Trey McIntyre Project who performed at the Jaialdi 2010 Festival.

Javi''s success in receiving the Cary Grant Award has eased the way for the making of What Aitxitxe Said, and greatly increased production potential:

"I have more funding than I would have otherwise. I get to buy the equipment I need, to fly out to Boise to work on (the film); I get to pay my actors, buy props and costumes... Basically everything I need to make a legitimate film and not just a film project."

The original work will be a short film, though Javi is hopeful about future opportunities for turning it into a feature. In the meantime, and despite the extra possibilities the award allows, the film continues to be an intimate, family project:

"I''m casting my father and my brother (Josu) in the lead roles... I know how they are, how they act, that there''s already chemistry between them.

"Josu will be playing my grandfather as a young man, and again as his son. My dad will be playing his own father, which I think is interesting for him."

Delighted with the possibilities the Award now affords him, Javi is no less aware of its significance and says he feels "infinitely humbled" to be considered.

Nomination to the award was something of a rush: "I got an e-mail from my professors that they''d nominated me... but they needed my application by the end of final exams week! I thought ''Oh no!'', but I got it together."

Production of the 22-minute film will also be tight. Javi has less than nine months to record and edit on top of which he will continue his classes and work full-time as an RA.

"I''ll start filming in October when the sheep are coming down. In December-January we''ll do the interior scenes like in the Basque boarding house. Then we''ll be back in January-February when the lambing season starts".

When the film is complete, Javi plans to put it forward for festivals and other awards. His dream is to continue making films about Basques and hopes to be based in the Basque Country some time in the future, "to carry on making films about Basques with a different perspective; a US-Basque perspective," he says.

"Hopefully they''ll have me!"