‘Galernak’ Atlantic Architecture Film Festival is born in the context of the Mugak/ Architecture Biennial

2021 August 31

• The contest will be held from November 23 to 26 in Donostia, within the III edition of the Basque Country International Architecture Biennial Mugak/, and short films by architecture students from all over Europe may participate in it.
• The call is an initiative of the School of Architecture of the Basque Country in collaboration with the Elias Querejeta Cinema School.

The Atlantic Architecture Film Festival ‘Galernak’ will celebrate its first edition in November 2021. It will be within the framework of the Basque Country International Architecture Biennial Mugak/, which will hold its 3rd edition throughout the month. The call for the contest has been launched by the School of Architecture of the University of the Basque Country, in collaboration with the Elias Querejeta Cinema School, and has the objective of establishing a dialogue between architecture and cinema based on short films made by architecture students from Europe.

'Galernak', which will be held from November 23 to 26 in Donostia-San Sebastián, looks for documentaries, fiction pieces or any other genre that offers an architectural view of the Atlantic Arc. The selected short films will be shown to the public during those days, forming part of a program of activities that will include talks by specialists in architecture and cinema, a selection of influential films and an exhibition of the history of cinema in the city of San Sebastián.

The objective of the cycle is to establish a dialogue between cinema and architecture that proposes alternatives for future architectural and urban projects. The selection committee will be made up of students from both the Cinema and the Architecture School, and the jury of professionals in cinema and architecture. In the contest, a total of three prizes will be awarded: Galerna Award for Best Short Film, with an endowment of €2,500, Mirada Galerna Award for the most architectural piece, with an endowment of €1,000, and Galerna del Público Award, granted by vote the assistants and endowed with €500.

The Atlantic: a common nexus

A gale is a sudden and violent storm with strong gusts of wind from the west or northwest that lashes the Atlantic coast. They appear on hot and peaceful days in which the arrival of a cold front is accompanied by a sudden change in the direction and intensity of the wind. In French it is called galerne, in Breton gwalarn, géile in Gaelic and the Celts said gal to the wind; a common root for a phenomenon that occurs in a specific territory that also shares other characteristics such as vegetation, landscape, traditions or even gastronomy.

Adopting the name of the meteorological phenomenon, the 'Galernak' Atlantic Architecture Film Festival was created with the intention of being a meeting point for reflection on the Atlantic from the point of view of architecture, territory and landscape. He wants to know the gaze of architecture students in Europe to launch a cycle that allows sharing tools and strategies of this territory when planning projects of any scale.

With the aim of supporting and promoting young talents and with ‘the Atlantic’ as a theme, ‘Galernak’ is directed to the students of all the Schools of Architecture in Europe. They will be able to participate with short films about the proposed theme, a concept that encompasses the landscape, territory, cities, architecture, art, traditions and culture of the Atlantic Arc.

Participants must prove their status as architecture students, sending a copy of the college tuition, University certificate or other document that proves it. Each student may propose up to three unpublished works carried out in the 12 months prior to the celebration of the contest, filmed in any format and with any device or camera. The duration of each audiovisual piece may not exceed 20 minutes and they will be presented in their original language. In the case of a version other than Basque, Spanish or English, the copies must be subtitled.

Those who want to participate can start their projects and register them between September 1 and October 15, 2021. The way to do so will be through a registration form that contains a private link to the video, which must be uploaded to Vimeo or Youtube, and that should be sent to galernak.ets.arquitectura@ehu.eus. Check all the bases on the University of the Basque Country's website.

The selection committee may choose up to 12 pieces and will notify the participants by email on October 22. The selected works will be exhibited to the public between November 23 and 25, during the Mugak/ Biennial, and on November 26 the awards ceremony will take place.