A documentary about bullfighting, ‘Tardes de Soledad’ (‘Afternoons of Solitude’), has picked up the top award at the San Sebastián Film Festival, its graphic nature and untold storytelling causing both admiration and disgust among viewers.
The film, by Spanish director Albert Serra, won the Golden Shell for best film at the festival, for its portrayal of a day in the life of a Peruvian bullfighter, Andrés Roca Rey.
The documentary beat strong competition for the top award from narrative features by Joshua Oppenheimer’s musical The End, Edward Berger’s Conclave and Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths.
Serra thanked the festival organisers for having selected his film after animal rights groups had campaigned against its screening.
It got a warm reception at its festival screening, even though animal rights group PACMA had denounced it as a romanticised vision of bullfighting that normalised violence towards animals.
Film critics have argued the documentary has something for both fans of bullfighting and opponents of it, as it gives insight into the fear of death the bullfighter has before the corrida, but showcases the violence and cruelty against fighting bulls like no other film before it.
While noting that the documentary’s graphic cruelty makes it a harrowing watch, The Hollywood Reporter‘s chief film critic David Rooney in his review called it ‘transfixing’.
‘Anyone with a low threshold for cruelty to animals will find this a harrowing watch, but for those with the stomach for it, the doc is a unique study of discipline, bravado, laser focus and showmanship,’ he wrote.
‘Without intending to, the story has been turned upside down. Bullfighting fans don’t like the film, the anti-bullfighting fans don’t like it either but the critics do like it,’ said Rubén Amón, journalist for El Confidencial and OndaCero.
‘We hear everything,’ wrote Javier Zurro for Spanish daily El Diario. ‘We are forced to see what we do not want to see, but Serra also makes us hear what we have always been deprived of. With this he ends up breaking another stereotype about bullfighting, the supposed great respect the bullfighter has for the bull.’
Upon receiving his award, director Albert Serra said: ‘I would like to thank the protagonists for their open-mindedness in allowing people like us into their world. The film has a genuine side that cannot be found in many other films. Only this kind of daring experimental cinema dares to get to the bottom of an issue like this.’
The documentary, which is set in Peru, will premiere in Spain in early 2025.
ALSO READ: Pedro Almodóvar wins lifetime achievement award at San Sebastian Festival.
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