The movie, by Spanish director Albert Serra, gained the Golden Shell for finest movie on the competition, for its portrayal of a day within the lifetime of a Peruvian bullfighter, Andrés Roca Rey.
Serra thanked the competition organisers for having chosen his movie after animal rights teams had campaigned towards its screening.
It obtained a heat reception at its competition screening, regardless that animal rights group PACMA had denounced it as a romanticised imaginative and prescient of bullfighting that normalised violence in the direction of animals.
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Movie critics have argued the documentary has one thing for each followers of bullfighting and opponents of it, because it provides perception into the concern of loss of life the bullfighter has earlier than the corrida however showcases the violence and cruelty towards preventing bulls like no different movie earlier than it.
“With out aspiring to, the story has been turned the wrong way up. Bullfighting followers do not just like the movie, the anti-bullfighting followers do not prefer it both however the critics do prefer it,” argued Rubén Amón, journalist for El Confidencial and OndaCero.
“We hear all the pieces”, wrote Javier Zurro for Spanish left-leaning day by day El Diario.
“We’re compelled to see what we don’t need to see, however Serra additionally makes us hear what we’ve got all the time been disadvantaged of. With this he finally ends up breaking one other stereotype about bullfighting, the supposed nice respect the bullfighter has for the bull”.
Upon receiving his award, director Albert Serra stated “I wish to thank the protagonists for his or her open-mindedness in permitting folks like us into their world. The movie has a real facet that can’t be discovered in lots of different movies. Solely this sort of daring experimental cinema dares to unravel a difficulty like this”.
The documentary, which is ready in Peru, will premiere in Spain in early 2025.
IN DEPTH: Will bullfighting ever be banned in Spain?