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A documentary on bullfighting by Catalan director Albert Serra won the Golden Shell on Saturday. It is the main award of the San Sebastian international film festival, in the Spanish Basque country.
“I would like to thank the festival for selecting the film,” said Albert Serras upon receiving his prize. Animal rights organizations campaigned so that the film, “Tardes de soledad” (Afternoon of Solitude) was not presented at this 72nd edition of the festival.
The Spanish party Pacma, which fights for animal rights, had requested its withdrawal from the competition, believing that it offered “a romantic vision” of “a tradition involving violence against animals”.
The film, very applauded during the official screening, follows the Peruvian bullfighter Andrés Roca Rey during several days of celebration, from the moment he puts on his costume of lights until the end of the bullfight, without evading the question of the death of the bulls, widely filmed.
During the press conference presenting the film, the 48-year-old Catalan director affirmed that his film “takes a position” insofar as it shows “a certain fascination for the subject” of bullfighting, but that it “does not does not renounce being an art film (…) which is not in the service of a cause or anything”, but “in the service of cinema”. The debate on bullfighting has not spared Spain where the left-wing government recently abolished the National Bullfighting Prize.
Support for Argentine cinema
The Silver Shell for best direction rewarded two directors ex aequo, the Portuguese Laura Carreira for “On Falling” devoted to dehumanized work in a large warehouse of an online commerce company, and the Spanish Pedro Martín Calero, for his horror film “El llanto” (The Cries).
It is an “Argentinian film, because half of the filming took place there and half of the cast is Argentinian”, and “the price belongs to them”, declared Pedro Martin Calero, in a statement included among the many marks of support for Argentine cinema during the evening. Argentine cinema is facing austerity measures by President Javier Milei which have led to a virtual paralysis of the Argentine National Cinema Institute (INCAA).
“Behind this self-delusion in which they live, this hatred that they profess, there is no freedom. There is simply a deep loneliness. No matter how hard they try, they’re not going to destroy us, we’re not going to destroy ourselves. Long live Argentine cinema!” said actor Pérez Biscayart, as he received the prize for best Latin American film won by “El jockey” (The Jockey) by Argentine director Luis Ortega.
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