Anekumen

I was born in the late 80s. In my mind’s eye, central to that decade in the Basque Country was the skeleton of dismantled industry, heroin and armed struggle as a distorted echo of the working class struggles. My intention with this film is to take a critical look back at that historical period.

Anekumen approaches this historical period focusing on the workers’ movement in the Basque province of Gipuzkoa and the spiritual communities that emerged in the area in the heat of the social movements of the 70s. In doing so, I intend to reflect on the notion of collectivity, emphasising the political dimension of the personal and the intimate.

My interest in these issues was born out of conversations with my parents, militants of the workers movement and members of the Arco Iris community, where they lived not long before I was born. Themes as diverse as sexual liberation, love relationships, ecology, spirituality, economy, were dealt with urgently and fervently, in a community that represented a kind of sublimation of the deep yearnings and desires of the young people of that time. However, the aspirations for radical transformation clashed with deep contradictions, and the mystic aspirations ran counter to the material needs of the community.