Introduction

The audiovisual is also the source of projects undertaken in the Centre via artistic creation accompaniment programmes, such as Kinu, driven by the Tractora cooperative as part of Azkuna Zentroa´s Resident Collective programme, or the presence of associated artist Laida Lertxundi during 2021. She will start working this year on the project Ocho Encuentros to stimulate the setup of a productive artistic community with a view to creating new audiovisual materials. The Golem Alhóndiga multiplex cinemas are one of the strengths of our Centre in cinematographic screening. The operator specialised in film screening, distribution and production not only attracts spectators to commercial premieres but also those from different film productions worldwide. The way Golem Multiplex Cinema Alhóngida understands cinema is on a par with Azkuna Zentroa´s strategy, committed to and based on their vocation of holding a meeting with the public. It broaches film culture in its widest sense beyond the industry trends, working in conjunction with local and international specialists in the medium, who follow different career paths. Thanks to this collaboration, we undertake stable programmes on classic and contemporary films, premieres, festivals, thematic cycles as well as the most avant-garde audiovisual narrative programme. Apart from the offer screened and promoted in the audiovisual sphere, the Centre clearly stands out as the great film mecca of Bilbao, a reference point for the communities of audiences as well as a meeting point for creators and visitors all year round. The city’s main film festivals are screened here: ZINEBI. Bilbao International Festival of Documentary and Short Film; FANT. Bilbao Fantastic Film Festival organised by the Bilbao City Council; Zinemakumeak Gara! Film festival produced by women; the Bilbao International Invisible Film Festival ‘Film Sozialak’ (likewise the Film Caravan produced by women ‘Among Filmmakers’); and Zinegoak. Bilbao International Gaylesbotrans Film & Performing Arts Festival. This programme section also contributes to the complicity of external cultural agents like the San Sebastian International Film Festival, with which ties have been strengthened to support the Centre artistic collective in the awareness and development of their projects. Via this audiovisual programme, which has been running for 10 years, the aim has been to respond to the essential goals of the Centre, i.e. to create and strengthen a stable community as the main tool to both attract and involve new publics, besides retaining and rewarding those who have been loyal; and to bring the audiovisual creation processes closer to them via a programme aimed at going beyond the screen projection. To this end, the collaboration of as many cultural promotion agents as possible in the city is required. It is also vital to generate programmes as a starting point for the production of new audiovisual works, and to propose and keep a programming connected to the contemporariness of today’s society’s realities, which must compulsorily be included in each of the different Azkuna Zentroa programme lines through their ‘reciprocal contamination’.