'What Aitxitxe Said' biggest challenge ever for Javi Aitor Zubizarreta

Shooting What Aitxitxe Said, (What Grandfather Said) is probably the biggest challenge Javi Aitor Zubizarreta has faced as a director and different in so many ways from his previous movie Artzainak, a short documentary that exposes the struggles and hardships of immigrant shepherds in the hills of Idaho.

What Aitxitxe Said, a 22-minute fictional film and the first project by his own company, By the Old Bridge Productions, tells the story of his grandfather Joaquin, a Basque immigrant who arrived in America in 1935 as a young man and faced the struggles and isolation of shepherding in the Idaho mountains.

"It''s a challenge, because it isn''t just my history; the story belongs equally to my family and the larger Basque community in Idaho. Furthermore, this isn''t my story, but the story of my grandfather, who I never knew. I''m basing it on the many stories and descriptions I''ve heard of my Aitxitxe Joaquin. But at the end of the day, this is my imagining of his life, so it is certainly a challenge. There is a great deal of responsibility to treat the subject matter with fairness and honesty," says Javi.

The film covers a long period of time and two generations. It starts in 1935, though we later find Joaquin in 1955 when he''s in the Basque Country with his wife and children and must leave them once again. The action then moves to 1975, when his own son comes to America to herd with him. Together they have to deal with the fact that they haven''t seen each other for many years, that Joaquin doesn''t want his son to live the life he had to, and how his son just wants to spend time with his dad.

The Basque-American director casts his own father Luis and his brother Josu in the lead roles. Josu is playing his grandfather as a young man, and again as his son, Josu''s uncle.

"Before I even wrote the script, I knew I wanted my dad, Luis, and brother, Josu, to play the lead roles. They are natural characters, full of energy and humor. I knew they would be great in front of the camera, and they have given truly great performances. They already have a great chemistry together, they already have a dynamic, and so asking them to play father and son on camera wasn''t a great stretch," Javi explains.

The script has some dark moments that have also been a definite challenge to both director and actors. One such moment is a scene in which the son tells his father what it was like growing up with a father who was away in America herding sheep, and how much he missed him and wished he was more like other fathers who were around:

"It was very difficult for Josu to tell our dad that, considering our Aita is such a great father and has always been there for his sons. The script didn''t call for it, but my brother started crying during the scene," Javi explains.

It was also a challenge for the director, bearing in mind that both actors are his relatives. "As director, you strive for that raw, visceral emotion, but as a brother it isn''t fun to see your brother cry. I''m really in awe of the performances my dad and brother delivered. For having never acted before, they truly embodied their roles. They''re naturals, and as a director, they were great to work with," he says proudly.

Sheep knowledge

Shooting Artzainak provided Javi with a knowledge of how sheep move - and don''t move - he says, but shooting a fictional film is very different to shooting a documentary and this time they needed the sheep to cooperate, which was another big challenge.

"When we were shooting the doc, we could just follow the sheep and film whatever we thought was beautiful and interesting. We had a basic idea in mind and then went with the flow. We needed the sheep to perform specific actions from the script. The element of spontaneity was still there, but to a much lesser degree. We learned an important lesson - sheep might be easy to herd, but they aren''t easy to direct," Javi explains.

As the Basque-American director recognizes , actual sheepherders were a great help during filming and really went out of their way to accommodate his needs .

"We had this shot in mind where Josu is surrounded by the sheep. We were all set and ready for the sheep to come into position, but as soon as they saw all of the crew and camera equipment and Josu standing there, they either went in the opposite direction, or just stopped all together. We definitely had to be patient and work with the sheep, rather than make the sheep work for us," he recounts.

Family business

Apart from the scenes in the mountains, there were also others which they filmed in a Basque boarding house. The film is also an account a very formative time in Basque-American history, when so many other Basque men and families were moving to America and helping to build a new life and a new community.

"Looking at the footage, I''m struck by how similar it looks to the historical photos from the early 20th century of Basque herders. I''m really proud to be recreating this extremely important moment in Basque history for a larger audience to watch. It''s really exciting," Javi says.

Shooting the film has been a family affair. Besides Luis and Josu, Javi''s grandfather, Marvin, plays a ranch owner and his grandmother, Carmen, plays his Amuma Emilia, Joaquin''s wife. A Basque-American friend, Dan Aizpitarte, plays a small role as a foreman and they also have several extras in a scene where Joaquin and his son go to the boarding house in Boise, including Javi''s oldest brother, Kepa.

"It''s definitely been a family affair, but I wouldn''t have it any other way. They''ve been great sports and given great performances," he says.

For all this and more, Javi Zubizarreta is really grateful to his family. His crew stayed at his house where his mom cooked one great meal after another, something which the director assures goes a long way in keeping a film crew happy. They would also spend whole days running around Boise finding tin cans, long johns and oil lanterns when they needed props.

"Shooting a movie takes so much work and energy from so many people and my whole family went above and beyond to make the shoot a success. When we finally wrapped shooting on Sunday at 3:00 AM and I thanked my mom for everything, she just said, "Well, we''ll all share in the glory." They certainly deserve it," he maintains.

He has already started editing the footage he shot in October, will shoot a few more scenes in December and then a final scene in February and hopes to have the film finished for April. I am already looking forward to it.