Aupa Etxebeste!

Aupa Etxebeste! released in 2005 was the first feature film made in Euskara (Basque Language) in over a decade (since 1993), and is a comedy about keeping up appearances. The Etxebeste family is well respected in their small Basque town, and are proprietors of a Txapel (traditional Basque cap or beret) factory and are citizens of influence. But on the eve of their summer holiday to Marbella, they discover that they’re broke. The neighbors mustn’t find out and so they devise a plan which finds them hiding in their flat for the duration…

2005, directed by Asier Altuna & Telmo Esnal, 97 min, color, in Basque with English subtitles.

Asier Altuna, Telmo Esnal

Asier Altuna (Bergara, Gipuzkoa. 1969) and Telmo Esnal (Zarautz. Gipuzkoa, 1967) co-directed, in 2005, Aupa Etxebeste!, which competed in New Directors and won the Audience Award in San Sebastian. In 2016 they contributed with the segment Iraila to the omnibus film Kalebegiak, screened at the Velodrome. Single-handed, Altuna has competed in San Sebastian’s Official Selection with Bertsolari (2011, out of competition) and Amama (2015), winner of the Irizar Award. In 2018 he participated in the omnibus film Gure Oroitzapenak, screened in Zinemira. His lastes film Karmele (2025) premiered at the San Sebastian Film Festival.

For his part, Esnal has directed Urte berri on, amona! (2011) which participated in New Directors and Dantza (2018), which won the Global in Progress Award in 2017 and was presented in San Sebastian’s Official Selection the following year.