As a young girl growing up in Tuscany, Eva Florencia chanced upon a photograph that would change her life. The image depicted a graceful matador, red muleta in hand, executing a pass against a powerful bull. It was, as she says, “like an arrow through my heart.” From that moment, she dreamed of one thing: to go to Spain and become a bullfighter. While Eva prepares for the grueling series of bullfights she must complete to attain the title of matador, veteran torero Maripaz Vega struggles to break into the top ranks. Maripaz, the world’s only active professional female matador, is feeling the strain of more than 10 years in the ring. Though she shares Eva’s almost metaphysical rapport with the bulls, the rigors of constant touring and fighting for berths in the male-dominated field are wearing her down. In ELLA ES EL MATADOR, directors Gemma Cubero and Celeste Carrasco artfully blend history, nail-biting action and the parallel tale of a veteran matador into a winning portrait of this Italian émigré and her improbable quest for glory in the bullrings of Spain. As both women contend with the macho politicking that permeates the sport, participants and observers alike contemplate the enduring popularity of bullfighting in Spain. What is at the root of this controversial and bloody pastime, with its pagan echoes of ritual sacrifice and bloodletting? The answer lies at the heart of this spirited and vital film.

Filmmaker Q&A

Introduce yourself:
GEMMA CUBERO, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, WRITER, is a Spanish filmmaker with a journalism background. Gemma worked as Associate Producer and Investigator on the award-winning documentary SENORITA EXTRAVIADA, Lourdes Portillo’s film about the killing of women in Juárez. She also produced with Julio Medem the feature length documentaries WHAT’S UNDER YOUR HAT? and ONE PERCENT: SCHIZOPHRENIA, both with theatrical and DVD release in Spain. In 2006 she founded Talcual Films, an independent production company based in the United States and also operating in Spain. ELLA ES EL MATADOR (SHE IS THE MATADOR) received the 2008 Tribeca All Access Creative Promise Award for Documentary. CELESTE CARRASCO, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER, CINEMATOGRAPHER, EDITOR, WRITER, is a native of Barcelona, Spain. Celeste’s credits include First Assistant Director on Marta Balletbó’s film, HONEY, I’VE SENT THE MEN TO THE MOON, Production Manager on Lourdes Portillo’ s SENORITA EXTRAVIADA, and Producer on Lisset Barcello’s BOTH. Previously, Celeste received sponsorship from the Smithsonian Institution to conduct research at the Film and Media Department at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. She currently works at the technical department in the Madrid Opera House, combining her film work with theater. ELLA ES EL MATADOR (SHE IS THE MATADOR) received the 2008 Tribeca All Access Creative Promise Award for Documentary.

What inspired this film?   How did you find your subjects?
When the idea came out Celeste and I were living in San Francisco working on the making of SENORIA EXTRAVIADA by Lourdes Portillo. We had been living in the States for several years and had gained some distance from Spain. We read in the New York Times that the only known female matador of the 1990’s, Cristina Sánchez, was quitting because other male matadors at the top didn’t want to share top billings.

This sparked our interest and we decided to research what was behind the news. What we found fascinating was the realization that not only Cristina but many women throughout Spain’s history have tried to be matadors but have been forbidden to do it by law for moral reasons. From this point on we knew we had a powerful story.

Bullfighting is the quintessential symbol of masculinity and bravery in Spanish culture. For us, born and raised in Spain, making this documentary about female matadors means changing this symbol and shifting the gender roles that have been defined for centuries. It has also been a personal journey of exploring and questioning our culture.

We started looking for characters during our first research trip in the summer of 2001. We met with young women all over Spain who were at the beginning stages of their bullfighting career. We found Eva in the very first trip and we knew that we had found a very articulate, deep person that could tell a dramatic story. As an outsider originally from Italy, she has the passion of a dreamer.

We also met Maripaz Vega in 2001 but it took us several years to fully gain access to her private life. We followed her to Mexico in 2002 and throughout Spain in the following years. In the summer of 2006 we entered her family life for the first time and from that point on we knew we had found the second character of the film. We chose Maripaz not only because she is the only active professional female matador in the world but also because she comes from a family of all men who wanted to be matadors but failed. All of them live this passion for bullfighting through her experience, adding complexity to the story.

What were some of the biggest challenges/surprises?
Getting access to such a closed world was one of the major challenges as well as fundraising for a project that doesn’t fall within most of the funding guidelines of foundations and is controversial in its subject matter.

When we started the film we hardly knew anything about bullfighting. We grew up with it in our culture but didn’t know the ins and out of the profession. Not even the fact that women had tried to enter the profession. Gaining access was difficult because of this male world and also because we were not known as filmmakers – this is our directorial debut.

Once we identified the characters of the film we were set but it took a lot of trust to follow the characters. Because there is such prejudice against bullfighting we had to build a very solid relationship with our protagonists so they would know that we were not judging their choices.

The other challenge was fundraising. Again, because it was our first film, we needed to prove that we could do it. Once we were able to show a roughcut, the fundraising became “easier” because we didn’t have to explain as much and the images could speak for themselves. We could then show that the film was about a richer more complex story than just bullfighting. But until then we had to knock on a lot of doors, stomach a lot of rejections and trust that we would complete the film.

Luckily and most surprising is that all of the funding for the film has come from the US. We knew that we needed to find funders who would share our vision.

Even though Celeste and I have been working in film for many years it was still quite a challenge to secure funds because we chose a subject matter that was very controversial within Spain and a foreign subject to most Americans.

Nevertheless we are very proud to say that all the funds for this film have come from US funders. With time and determination we found funders who believed in our vision and supported our efforts. We wouldn’t have been able to make this film without the support of Sheila C. Johnson and Suzanne La Fetra and also Latino Public Broadcasting and the rest of our supporters. It is also pretty extraordinary that the film is going to be broadcast on POV on Sept. 1st, 2009. This has been one of the greatest surprises.

Who are some of your favorite filmmakers?
Luis Buñuel, Igmar Bergman, Arturo Ripstein, Lars Von Trier, Michael Winterbottom, Mira Nair, Wong Kar Wai, Lourdes Portillo, Errol Morris, Kim Longinoto, Agnés Varda, Ellen Kuras.

What is your all time favorite documentary?
MAN WITH THE MOVIE CAMERA
THE FOG OF WAR
STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES
HEARTS OF DARKNESS
IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS
THE GIRL NEXT DOOR
SENORITA EXTRAVIADA

What other projects are in the pipeline?
A doc about Moroccan women who migrate to Spain to work in the strawberry fields.

A doc about Queer Tango.

Why did you become a filmmaker?
Gemma Cubero: I became a documentary filmmaker because I believe documentary can be used as a tool for social change; by telling stories we can break stereotypes, experience other worlds and open people’s minds.

Celeste Carrasco: I became a filmmaker because I love to tell stories and my passion for photography led me to grab a video camera.

What are some of your creative influences?
Celeste Carrasco: photography, cooking, music, painting, architecture and the lives of others.

Gemma Cubero: photography, exploring nature, traveling and Zen practice.

Did you go to film school?
Gemma Cubero: no I didn’t. I went to Journalism school because at that time in Spain there was not a school for documentary filmmakers. It was in 1999 when I started working with Lourdes Portillo in SENORITA EXTRAVIADA that I realized I have found that I wanted to do in life. My film school has been working in the field and learning by doing.

Celeste Carrasco: yes, I went to film school but I didn’t finish because I begin to work in filmmaking at an early age and I preferred to learn through my own experiences.

What do you shoot on?
We started the film in 2000 and finished shooting in 2008. We shot a few rolls in S16mm and the rest of the film in MiniDV. Most of the film was shot in PAL but we did shoot a few hours in NTSC that we needed to convert in the editing process.

We shoot the film with different kinds of DV cameras that we rented or borrowed from generous friends. Finally in 2004, we could afford buying our very own Sony DSR PD-170 on PAL (with a bunch of extra batteries!). On all shoots we always carried a small Sony Handycam PC100 that actually came in handy on more than one occasion. We shot part of our first fundraising trailer with that little camera. On our first research shoot, we also used an AATON XTR Super 16mm camera. We wanted to test transferring S16mm to video to see how the two formats would mix. Because of the expense associated with shooting with film, we could not continue to use S16mm. The three minutes of slow motion with Eva practicing in the bullring and the shots of a giant bull figure in the Spanish landscape is all we used in the film. As the production progressed we wanted to continue experimenting with texture and formats, so we invited our photographer friend Tanit Plana to come with us on our first bullfight of Maripaz in Zaragoza. We used Tanit’s still analog camera as a second unit while we shot at the same time with our Sony DSR PD-170 video camera. What has been the most unexpected thing to happen since taking the film on the festival circuit? To realize how competitive the festival circuit is and the subjectivity of the decision making process. It is not enough to finish your film but you need to find the right allies to bring the film into the world. And premiering at a good festival is not even a guarantee that your film will reach a wide audience. Distribution is a new world we are discovering now and we hope that by premiering at Silverdocs the film will have a long life in international festivals.

Why did you want to screen your film at SILVERDOCS?
We have heard great comments from filmmaker friends and industry professionals about the festival. Also we really believe in presenting the film in a festival where the emphasis and the energy focuses on documentary filmmaking. We have found that while our film tells a universal story, it is also a controversial subject, and it takes a courageous festival to program it. We are especially thankful to Silverdocs for giving us the opportunity to premiere here!