No, Julio Medem insists, he doesn't feel that being a Basque makes him “different” or “exotic”. The director of Tierra (Earth) is exasperated by all those foreign journalists who try to lump him together with other directors from the region. Yes, some of the Madrid critics give him a rough ride, but he likes to think that has nothing to do with where he comes from. “They'd criticise me whatever I do.”
So what is his new movie going to be about? Medem pauses, smiles, and admits “yes, it's a Basque film”. As yet untitled, it will span more than 50 years, from the end of the Spanish Civil War right through to the present day. In chronological terms, at least, it stands as a sort of sequel to Vacas(Cows), another “Basque story” which ended with the civil war, “but it will have a very different tone”.
The script comprises four different but interlinked stories, and will even tackle the thorny issue of ETA terrorism. “I want to show the love/hate relationship everybody in the Basque country feels with Basque culture. It will be my most personal film.”
This is not the first time Medem has been to London. He was here in the autumn of 1993 to receive an award from the BFI for Vacas. On that occasion, he recalls a little ruefully, his travel arrangements were far from ideal. He somehow contrived to miss his flight in Bilbao and ended up having to hare across Europe by car to reach Britain in time for the ceremony. The award was presented to him, as it happens, by Sheila Whitaker.
Like most leading figures in the Spanish film community, he is no fan of the new right-wing government. State funding for the film industry has been slashed. “There wasn't enough money before. Now it is going to be much, much worse. It is sure to have an effect in the next few years.” Medem is gloomy about the prospects for Spanish production under Aznar. But he, at least, is one director who shouldn't have to struggle to get his films made.
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