Ikastetxeak Belodromoan will invite 13,000 schoolchildren between the ages of 6 and 11 years to take flight with migratory birds

More than 13,000 students between the ages of 6 and 11 years will flock to the Velodrome to enjoy the screening of Migration (2023), directed by Benjamin Renner (Paris, 1983) and Guylo Homsy (Paris, 1982. Aiming to connect the cinema and science, Ikastetxeak Belodromoan will introduce schoolchildren from some 80 schools in Gipuzkoa to the fascinating world of birds, their migratory routes and favourite wetlands in our region. The initiative will include six showings to run on the mornings of Friday 18 September, and from Monday 21 to Friday 25, both inclusive. This rendezvous programmed at the San Sebastián Festival has the collaboration of DIPC and the Basque Film Archive, with the slogan "San Sebastián. City of Film, City of Science".

The film will show dubbed into Basque on the giant screen at the Velodrome and will also come with Basque subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. Migration narrates the exciting voyage undertaken by a family of Mallard ducks. After years without leaving their pond, when another family flies in with exciting stories from faraway places, they decide to embark on a trip that passes through New York and arrives in tropical Jamaica.

Benjamin Renner is an acclaimed French illustrator, animator and filmmaker, known for directing Ernest et Célestine (2012) and Le grand méchant renard et autres contes / The Big Bad Fox and other Tales (2017). Guylo Homsy, for his part, has worked in the special visual effects and animation department of films including Despicable Me (2010), Despicable Me 2 (2013) and Minions (2015), as well as on the film to screen at the Velodrome that marked his directorial debut.

The screening of the film will be accompanied by an original introduction and several surprises. We will have the participation of Edorta Unamuno, biologist and ornithologist from the Urdaibai Bird Center (Aranzadi), located in the heart of the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve, who will explain the importance of our local marshlands and their essential role in the migratory routes followed by birds, particularly when travelling between Europe and Africa. We will also have the opportunity to take a close look at some of the scientific projects carried out to monitor small birds, and to learn how their movements and migrations are studied.

Pepper the social robot, brought to us by the team headed by Elena Lazkano, from the Robotics and Autonomous Systems research group (RSAIT) at the University of the Basque Country (EHU), couldn’t miss the rendezvous. In keeping with tradition, she will form a luxury twosome with the presenter Ugaitz Alegria at this huge celebration for young audiences. Once again schoolchildren will be able to enjoy the remarkable skills of this robot, now all of an icon at the Velodrome during the Festival.

The Ikastetxeak Belodromoan poster, featuring a flock of birds flying over our city, has been created by the designer Julen Cano. A craft kit will also be available to download from the websites of the organising bodies consisting of birds to cut out, colour in and start flying.