Boise State University to screen Zuretzako by Javi Zubizarreta

Boise State University's Basque Studies Center will have a special screening of Zuretzako, a film directed by Basque-American director Javi Zubizarreta.

Dr. Joseba Gabilondo, from Michigan State University, will participate in the evening as a cinema scholar, and the film's writer and director, Javi Zubizarreta will also be available to answer questions and give insight into the making of the film.

The screening, which is free, will take place in the Simplot Ballroom of the Boise State Student Union Building at 19:00, Feb. 22.

The 60 minute movie, which stars Javi''s father Luis and his brother Josu, is the story of Javi's grandfather, Joaquin, as he herded sheep in the mountains of Idaho, hundreds of miles away from his family in the Basque Country.

Zuretzako starts in 1935, though it later shifts to 1955 when Joaquin is back in the Basque Country with his wife and children and must leave them once again. The action then moves to 1975, when his own son Luis (played by Josu) comes to America to herd with him. Father and son must deal with the fact that they haven''t seen each other for many years.

Zubizerreta enjoyed previous success with his documentary Artzainak: Shepherds and Sheep, which takes a look at the history of shepherding on the Idaho hills near where he grew up.

Thanks to his work on Artzainak, Javi received the Prince Grace Foundation''s Cary Grant Award, a prize that afforded him the financial freedom to create a more ambitious final project than he may otherwise have hoped.