Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren

In this Spanish name, the family name is Urresola.

Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren
File:20.000 especies de abejas, 2023 (Estibaliz Urresola).jpg Urresola in 2023.
Born	(1984-04-04) 4 April 1984 Laudio, Basque Country, Spain
Alma mater	University of the Basque Country (BA) Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión (BA) Cinema and Audiovisual School of Catalonia (MA)
Occupation	Filmmaker
Years active	2011–present
Website	sirimirifilms.eu/en/home/

Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren (born 4 May 1984) is a Spanish film director, screenwriter, and producer. She has won awards for Voces de papel (2016), a documentary, and Cuerdas (2022), a short film, while her first feature film, 20,000 Species of Bees (2023), has won a variety of awards at various film festivals.

Biography

Urresola was born on 4 May 1984 in Laudio/Llodio, located in the province of Álava in the autonomous community of Basque Country in northern Spain.

She has bachelor's degrees in Audiovisual Communication from the University of the Basque Country and Film Editing from the Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión. Urresola has master's degrees in Film Direction and Film Business—Marketing, distribution and international sales from the Cinema and Audiovisual School of Catalonia (ESCAC). She has worked since 2011 in the Basque film and television industry.

Significant films

Voces de papel

Voces de papel is a 2016 full-length documentary about Eresoinka, a mixed instrumental, vocal, and choreographic ensemble of Basque performers that toured internationally from 1937 during the Spanish Civil War until the outbreak of World War II, which forced Eresoinka to return to Europe from the United States. It won the Premio Txapela de Oro for best documentary at the San Sebastián International Film Festival.

File:Esti Urresolo zinemagilea.jpg

Urresola receiving the 2022 Forqué Award for best short film for Chords

Cuerdas

Cuerdas (2022) is a half-hour fictional film about a women's choir in an industrial town has lost its funding from the municipality. A local company, whose factory has contaminated the area surrounding the town, offers to sponsor the choir. With the survival of the choir in doubt, the members must decide whether to accept the sponsorship or not. It was nominated for and won many prizes.

20,000 Species of Bees

File:Film Crew of 20.000 especies de abejas, Berlinale 2023-1.jpg

Urresola, Sofía Otero, and the 20,000 Species of Bees film crew, Berlinale 2023

Main article: 20,000 Species of Bees

This was Urresola's first feature film. Her goal of was for the audience to feel the ups and downs of a family with a transgender child. The inspiration for the story was the suicide of Ekai Lersundi in 2018. Ekai Lersundi was a transgender 16-year-old boy from Ondarroa who had waited in vain for a hormonal treatment. Urresola was affected by the poignant note Lersundi left behind to illustrate his despair and his hope that divulging his suffering might bring about a societal change.

The film tells the story of a transgender girl, and its effect on the family. To help an accurate portrayal, Naizen, a regional association for the families of transgender minors, worked with the director and provided guidance for Sofía Otero who played the main character.

In the film, the family crosses borders, including the one that separates Bayonne in France and Laudio/Llodio in Spanish Basque Country. Although Spanish is predominant in that film, Basque and French are also heard. Urresola seeks naturalism in the conversations between the mother (Patricia López Arnaiz) and her children. Gender dysphoria is dealt with somewhat didactically, but with emotion. "Why am I like this?" asks little Cocó (Otero).

As the director explains:

Spanish: La niña no se transforma, adquiere a lo largo de la película las herramientas para expresar quién es. La que se transforma es la familia.

English: The girl does not transform. Throughout the film, she acquires the tools to express who she is. What is transformed is the family.

— Estibaliz Urresola

In addition to the festival awards that the film itself won and those that Urresola won as a director, Otero won a best performer award, Patricia López Arnaiz won a best supporting actress award, and there were two awards for best female ensemble cast.

Filmography

Year	Title	English translation	Director	Producer	Writer	Editor	Notes	Ref.
2011	Adri	Adri	Yes	No	Yes	No	short film
2013	1001 formas de tomar café	1001 Ways to Drink Coffee	Yes	No	No	No	segment in short documentary
2016	Voces de papel	Paper Voices	Yes	No	Yes	co-editor Pello Gutierrez	full-length documentary
2018	Nor Nori Nork	The Declensions	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	short documentary film
2020	Polvo somos	We Are Dust	Yes	Yes	Yes	co-editor Ibai Elortza	short film
2022	Cuerdas	Chords	Yes	co-producer	Yes	No	short film
2023	20.000 especies de abejas	20,000 Species of Bees	Yes	No	Yes	No	feature length

Awards and nominations

For the acting awards it garnered, see 20,000 Species of Bees § Accolades.

Overall awards for films directed by or directing awards received by Urresola

Year	Film	Festival award	Category	Result	Ref.
2012	Adri	4th Gaudí Awards	Best Short Film	prenomimated
2016	Voces de papel	San Sebastián International Film Festival	Premio Txapela de Oro for best documentary	Won
2022	Cuerdas	Critics' Week	Rails d'Ory	Won
		Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival	Grand prix du court métrage de Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole	Won
		28th Forqué Awards	Best Short Film	Won
		Curtas Vila do Conde	Best Fiction	Won
		Guanajuato International Film Festival	Premio SIGNIS al Mejor Cortometraje Ficción Internacional	Won
2023	20,000 Species of Bees	73rd Berlin International Film Festival	Golden Bear	Nominated
			Prize of the Guild of German Art House Cinemas	Won
			Berliner Morgenpost Reader's Jury Award	Won
			GWFF Best First Feature Award	Nominated
			Teddy Award	Nominated
		26th Málaga Film Festival	Golden Biznaga for Best Spanish Film	Won
		Seattle International Film Festival	Official Competition Grand Jury Prize	Won
		Guadalajara International Film Festival	Iberoamerican Competition – Best Film	Nominated
			Iberoamerican Competition – Best First Film	Won
			Iberoamerican Competition – Best Directing	Won

External links

• Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren at the Internet Movie Database