Eneko Sagardoy (‘Irati’): “For me there’s nothing challenging about shooting in Basque, it’s the language I live in”

Though he has been directing short films for some time, Paul Urkijo Alijo appeared before the world in 2017 with ‘Errementari (The Blacksmith and the Devil)’. His first feature film already spoke of a well-known Basque mythology tradition and, for his second feature film, he decided to do the same in the impetus of continuing to give voice to Basque folklore which is the backbone of a gigantic culture unknown to most people . It tells the story of Eneko, a young prince of the valley who must return to his land to face his adversaries and the prevailing Christianity that suffocates the rest of pagan beliefs. To do this, you will need the help of a young forest lady. “‘Irati’ is a hymn to nature, to the conservation of both the environment and the stories and myths”declares an enthusiastic Urkijo who, together with Eneko Sagardoy, Itziar Ituño and Edurne Azkarate, explained in an interview for eCartelera his passion for the fantastic genre, the folklore of Euskal Herria and the rhymes that can be glimpsed in our current society.

As for this conservation commented by Urkijo, it has a lot to do with the possible attention that could attract the famous jungle of Irati, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2017. “It is not the idea that becomes mass”Ituno commented, “on the contrary, but you can take a walk, it’s big enough and beautiful”. This leafy forest is just another demonstration of Basque power, its legend and its industry. In an act of vindication of the autochthonous, Urkijo supports his land, his actors, his history and his language to build his work: “I’m starting from logic. I’m talking about a Basque mythology, it’s filmed in Navarre, with actors from there who need to know Basque. There are poems, songs and phrases that would otherwise get lost a lot. It’s a material and a culture that I love and that I want to share with the world. We have a very heterogeneous culture, very rich, completely exportable to the rest of the world.”.

For their part, the cast confirms these claims. “The roots of our culture are lost in time”argues Ituno, “We are a very ancient and tiny culture, it’s amazing that it has survived because we are a transit area. This is the specific thing that we have, that we speak a very rare language, which has not yet been discovered if it comes from somewhere or if the Cro “Magnon spoke a kind of proto-Basque. It’s a hymn to diversity, we all have a very unknown cultural heritage and it’s time to launch it to the world”. However, Sagardoy naturalizes something that is logical to him: “The statement comes more from the outside. For me there is nothing vindictive about shooting in Basque. It’s the most natural thing, it’s the language I live with, so it’s the language I work with. Looking at it from the outside, it’s still a minority language, and generating projects – and I’m not telling you already of this caliber – well, it gives us an impressive added value”.

‘Irati’ being his first feature film, Azkarate had to go through a whole process for the first time: “I had a lot of responsibilities, but also a lot of trust from Paul. I had many firsts, everything I had to do I had to find the way. I had a very enriching itinerary”. Both Sagardoy and Ituño have already worked with Urkijo in ‘Errementari’, although on this occasion the roles of human and deity have switched. “Mine has nothing to do with what I did in Errementari’, from giving tuffs to throwing fireballs”Ituño joked, while Sagardoy thanked the director: “I’ve evolved very well, from demon to almost king. I’m very happy that Paul trusted me after seeing me play the demon, that kind of absurd and pathetic buffoon; suddenly offering me the opposite, an exercise in containing, power, of hegemonic masculinity. That the director himself trusts you and projects you into such a different character… nothing more to thank him for. Amusing? The devil is much more, but also less tiring to be the king”.

Fantasy and globalization

Being almost a pioneer of the genre, Urkjo spoke about how little fantasy style is in Spain: “For tastes, colors. There are those who reject the genre, but for me it is one of the most powerful genres that exist, because you have all the freedom to say what you want”. And the many influences that the director has gathered over the years are good proof of this, from Guillermo del Toro to Peter Jackson: “All of them are absolute masters, like Álex de la Iglesia. But it is true that the films that have influenced me the most are the ones I saw as a child: ‘Excalibur’ by John Boorman, ‘Conan the Barbarian (1982)’ by John Milius or ‘Jason and the Argonauts’. I drink from those classic eighties flings. And then I also tried to make the film as big as possible, in anamorphic, with spectacular shots and for this I looked to directors like David Lean and his ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ or ‘Dr. Zhivago'”..

This conquest by Christianity rhymes very well with the current situation. “We were sold the concept of a global village years ago, but it’s not true. On the internet the great cultures, the prevailing languages, continue to reign. Trying to survive is a gigantic effort, “Irati” is an example of that struggle so that history does not erase the identity of your ancestors”Ituño argued, while Urkijo confirmed it: “The great religions are spreading throughout the world, they are absorbing and syncretizing the different, heterogeneous, different, colorful ways of believing, seeing and understanding the world. Suddenly there is something spreading and saying that there is only one way to understand the things, that there is only one god who creates everything, rhymes with the globalization we suffer today, of big companies and corporations that are absorbing everything, and in the case of entertainment, the different forms of creation are in danger. ‘it is a profile to follow for a commercial need, the artistic drive is somehow damaged”.

‘Irati’ hits theaters February 24th.