In Basque language the verb heldu has a polysemic meaning. It can be ‘to hold’, ‘to grow’ or ‘to arrive’. The declined form heltzear means ‘about to’ all of those things. San Sebastián in the year 2000. The Basque Conflict is active. As she writes a letter to her absent brother, Sara, a fifteen-year-old climber, trains for the most difficult climb of her life. DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT Adolescence, climbing and the Basque Conflict are simply part of my biography. In Heltzear I wanted to juxtapose those three layers, without forcing any closed meanings, to see the relations that grow between them. I wanted to make a physical and sensorial film, which moves upwards, perhaps to find a more peaceful and calmer time.
