Afternoons of Solitude

Albert Serra / Spain, France, Portugal / 2024 / Czech Premiere / 123 min.

synopsis

Andrés Roca Rey (1996) is one of the biggest toreador stars of the present and is popular with the traditional Hispanic corrida (bull-fighting) audience. This detailed, aesthetically captivating probe into his mastery depicts the preparatory rituals, flashy costumes, the building of attention before a performance, and reflective conversations with fellow toreadors. The heart of the film, however, is Rey directly in the ring with the bull in an almost symbolically dualistic situation of trained, rational man meeting animal ferocity. The explicit depiction of the violence perpetrated in this controversial tradition raises the question of whether the animal or the man himself is the source of the corrida’s brutality.

“The beast presumably doesn’t know it’s about to die, but seems angrily resigned to its fate anyway — or more likely we feel angry on its behalf, and project that back onto this regal image.”

Quote source: Variety

biography

Albert Serra (1975) is a Catalan film director, producer and theatre artist. He is considered one of the most original filmmakers of our time, and his film Pacifiction (2022) was screened in the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2014, he led a masterclass at Ji.hlava IDFF, and for 2023 he created the festival's jingle.

more about film

director:	Albert Serra
cast:	Andrés Roca Rey, Antonio Gutiérrez , Francisco Durán, Francisco Gómez, Manuel Lara
producer:	Albert Serra, Montse Triola, Luis Ferrón, Pedro Palacios, Ricard Sales, Pierre-Olivier Bardet, Joaquim Sapinho
script:	Albert Serra
photography:	Artur Tort
editing:	Albert Serra, Artur Tort
music:	Marc Verdaguer, Ferran Font
sound:	Samuel Mittelman, Bruno Tarrière, Jordi Ribas
co-producer:	Pierre-Olivier Bardet, Joaquim Sapinho, Marta Alves
production manager:	Claudia Robert