PACMA criticizes the Film Academy for awarding ‘Tardes de Soledad’, a “bullfighting” film by Albert Serra

PACMA has criticized the decision of the Film Academy to award the Goya Award for Best Documentary to the film ‘Tardes de Soledad’, directed by Albert Serra, because they consider that this recognition “It represents a step back in social sensitivity towards animal protection and contributes to normalizing bullfighting. as if it were an innocuous cultural manifestation”.

The film, filmed during the 2022 and 2023 bullfighting seasons, follows the bullfighter Andrés Roca Rey and shows the development of different bullfights in bullrings in Spain and France. From PACMA they emphasize that, although the film avoids an explicit positioning, the mere aesthetic exhibition of the fight involves showing the violence actually exerted on the bull as a spectacle.

The film was presented at the 2024 San Sebastián International Film Festival, where it won the Golden Shell. The Animalist Party insists that artistic recognition cannot be separated from the material reality it portrays. “Each shot of a bullfight reflects authentic physical suffering and extreme stress in an animal used as an object of entertainment.“, they explain.

The Animalist Party concludes that rewarding works focused on bullfighting contributes to perpetuating a practice based on abuse and calls on the film industry to opt for content aligned with a society that is more respectful of animals.