Albert Serra and UCTL collect in the Senate the National Touromaquia Award, including criticism of the “censorship” of Urtasun

Albert Serra and the Royal Union of Bulls of Lidia (UCTL), have collected this Monday in the Senate the National Bullfighting Award, promoted by the Senate, nine autonomous communities and the Toro de Lidia Foundation, in a ceremony in which the attendees have criticized the “censorship” of the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, for canceling the award granted.

Thus, the bullfighter Andrés Roca Rey, around whose work he turns ‘Needored afternoons’, the documentary with which Serra has won the Golden Concha 2024 at the San Sebastián Festival, stressed that this award “returns to occupy the place that he never had to lose” and has criticized that the Ministry of Culture eliminated him “by political decision.” “To Mr. Urtasun, I tell him that we are here, that bullfighting does not need his permission because he continues with the strength of those who defend and fill the squares,” he said.

For his part, the president of the Toro de Lidia Foundation, Victorino Martín, has indicated that this award is the “Freedom against Censorship” award and thanked his support for the regional governments that have promoted the award and that they have made it possible that “in the face of the sad censorship of some” the awards ceremony in the Senate has been held.

Likewise, the president of the Senate, Pedro Rollán, has criticized the “imposition” of culture by eliminating the prize and recalled that public representatives have “a series of rights and duties that must comply and enforce”. In this regard, he stressed that Spanish legislation obliges public authorities to guarantee the conservation of bullfighting and promote their enrichment.

In addition, he pointed out that, according to the Constitution, it is the competence of the General State Administration to guarantee the conservation and promotion of bullfighting as the cultural heritage of all Spaniards, as well as protect the right of all to their knowledge, access and free exercise in its different manifestations. “I

Toro Bravo, “Marca España”

Meanwhile, the president of the Royal Union of Bulls of Lidia, Antonio Bañuelos, has asked “respect for traditions” and the diversity of the peoples of Spain and has encouraged to proclaim that this singularity makes Spain “the number one of tourism.” “A recognizable fact is that at any point on the planet the Bravo Toro is Spain brand,” he said.

The film director Albert Serra has thanked Roca Rey for his “surprise generosity”, without which he said that his documentary would not exist. In turn, he has defended his decision to do a work on bullfighting since “artists have the obligation to do the opposite of what is expected of them” and stressed the “power of cinema”, which can change people’s vision on a subject: “No one thought that bullfighting had that depth,” he said.

Serra collects the prize for his work in ‘Apartes de Soledad’, a documentary about Andrés Roca Rey, a film that won the Golden Concha 2024 at the San Sebastian Festival. For its part, the Royal Union of Bull Bulls of Lidia receives the award for its “crucial role” in the defense and promotion of the Bravo Toro that contributes “to the maintenance of an ancestral tradition that is an essential part of the cultural identity of Spain.”

This has been the first edition of the prize sponsored by nine Autonomous Communities-Castilla-La Mancha, Andalusia, Cantabria, Murcia, Valencian Community, Aragon, Extremadura, Madrid and Castilla y León-, the Senate and the Toro de Lidia Foundation and summoned after the cancellation of the National Prize by the Ministry of Culture.

In addition to the president of the Senate, the president of the Junta de Andalucía, María Guardiola as well as figures in the world of Toro such as Ortega Cano, Cayetano Rivera Ordóñez and Andrés Roca Rey. The Minister of Environment, Agriculture and Interior in Community of Madrid, Carlos Novillo; the Minister of the Presidency, spokesperson, external action and emergencies of the Region of Murcia, Marcos Ortuño; the Autonomous Secretary of Institutional Relations and Transparency of the Generalitat Valenciana, Santiago Lumbreras; The Deputy Minister of Strategic Planning of Castilla-La Mancha, José Antonio Carrillo, among others.