Ainhoa Rodríguez is a film director and producer. She holds a PhD in Film Analysis. Her first feature film, Destello Bravío (2021), premiered in the Official Tiger Competition at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, and was part of the New Directors / New Films in NY selection, organised by MoMA and Film at Lincoln Center on its 50th Anniversary. As a director, she won the awards for Best Director at the 26th Vilnius IFF, Best Director at the 23rd SIWFF and won the Violette D’Or at the Cinespaña Toulose Festival, among others. The film has been selected for festivals such as Moscow, Shanghai, FICUNAM (Mexico City), Thessaloniki and the Mostra de Saô Paulo.

A beautiful space in the centre of Bilbao, where there are many creative and charming women who support us and where you are living together. It has been a very warm and beautiful experience.

Graduated in Audiovisual Communication (UPV-Bilbao), Editing Theory (EICTV Cuba), Master in Film Direction and Master in Film Business (ESCAC). She has directed the short films Adri and Ashes and Dust and the feature-length documentary Paper Voices premiered at San Sebastián. Her latest short film Chords has premiered at the Semaine de la Critique Cannes and has won several national and international prizes, among which Best Short Film in the Forqué Awards. In 2023 her first feature film 20.000 species of bees will premiere in the Official Selection at the Berlinale.

A Room of One’s Own is the title of the renowned work by Virginia Woolf, as well as the name bestowed upon the artistic residence sponsored by GARIZA FILMS, which I was fortunate to be the recipient of this year.

Dedicating yourself to the world of creation means – almost by definition – dealing with numerous obstacles. Among these obstacles, two stand out as the greatest enemies of free creation: the lack of economic independence that pushes us to work different and usually precarious jobs to survive, which are in turn a compromise to the other factor – the lack of time.

Then there is the particular case of women who, in the world of creation as in so many others, see the guarantees of equal access to opportunities reduced from the start. We have to work harder to reach the same goal; work more for the same pay; try harder to for the same recognition. It is an exhausting race designed for failure. We know that now, and Virginia Woolf knew it in 1929, just ninety years ago.

That is why the title of this residence is so accurate. Its objectives are concise and precise: offer space, time, and money so a creator can develop her own project for 6 months.

And in this edition, I was lucky enough to be that creator. I am fortunate to find a stage where I can plant my idea and cultivate it with my utmost dedication, with guidance throughout the process.

So, with the sensation of the breeze at the first light, I am about to inaugurate the fishing period for, as Woolf describes so beautifully in the first pages of her book, “Thought – to call it by a prouder name than it deserved – had let its line down into the stream. It swayed, minute after minute, hither and thither among the reflections and the weeds, letting the water lift it and sink it until – you know the little tug – the sudden conglomeration of an idea at the end of one’s line: and then the cautious hauling of it in, and the careful laying of it out? Alas, laid on the grass how small, how insignificant this thought of mine looked; the sort of fish that a good fisherman puts back into the water so that it may grow fatter and be one day worth cooking and eating.” I’ll have to find my own bait and weave my own nets, but I will not have to do it alone.

At the end of this journey, I will be able to pull on that cane to contemplate the nature of the creature that emerges. And I will have to thank Lara Izagirre and Virginia Woolf, (or Mary Beton) since they both came to the same prosaic conclusion that you have to have 500 pounds a year and a room with a latch on the door to write. Or at least to be able to do it well, with commitment and responsibility.

She began her studies at the School of Fine Arts at the University of the Basque Country, finished her first year, and decided to focus her studies on Performing Arts. She studied in the Royal School for Performing Arts in Madrid with an emphasis on textual interpretation.

The Guipuzkoan actress worked on Lara Izagirre’s first feature, An Autumn Without Berlin, in which she plays the secondary character, Ane. She also collaborated in the casting and worked as a children’s coach in the same film.

“When Lara proposed my participation in this residency, I thought it was a great opportunity to make the leap to writing. The characteristics of the program offered by Gariza Films allow me to develop a project in an optimal environment.

I believe that the lack of job offers directly influences the fact that there are more and more actresses creating, directing, or writing their own projects. More than 90% of the actors and actresses in this country cannot live from this profession. Women suffer an unemployment rate six points higher than men, and we are also paid less.

In addition to the high unemployment rate, we have to tell our own stories, which in such circumstances, almost becomes a duty. Narrating from a feminine perspective, as well as creating and interpreting characters that break with feminine stereotypes that usually appear in fictions, normally created by men.

Lara Izagirre is a director and scriptwriter with overwhelming intuition and sensitivity, which makes her very meticulous in directing where she establishes a continuous dialogue with the actors. Her ability to listen is so typical of her. It gives space in the creative processes for improvisation. In my point of view, that is one of the most valuable tools in acting. It is a luxury to be able to share this process with her.”