A large harvest of nominations for Catalan cinema at the European Film Awards (EFA), announced this Tuesday. Sirado, by Oliver Laxe; Afternoons of solitudeby Albert Serra, and Olivia and the Invisible EarthquakeIrene Iborra's film has garnered a total of eight nominations for the awards to be presented by the European Film Academy in Berlin on January 17. This represents an unprecedented success for Catalan cinema: the year ofAlcarràsFor example, Carla Simón's film was nominated in only two categories: best film and best screenplay. In contrast, Sirado It has four nominations: best film, best director (Oliver Laxe), original screenplay (Oliver Laxe and Santiago Fillol) and best actor (Sergi López). The actor from Vilanova had already won the award for best European actor in 2000 for Harry, a friend who loves youIf he were to win the award again, he would join the club of doubles winners that includes Mads Mikkelsen, Daniel Auteuil and Toni Servillo.

The interest in men who hover around death runs through much of Albert Serra's filmography. Afternoons of solitude, his first feature-length documentary, clearly shows the desire to capture, through a ceremonial and spectacular practice, this link with the death of a man willing to kill or, to a much lesser extent, to die in the attempt. Although it is part of a long artistic and intellectual tradition of attraction to bullfighting, the Banyolí filmmaker wanted to make a bullfighting film like no other had been seen. An achievement that involves a series of decisions regarding formal refinement and discursive enrichment. Afternoons of solitude There is no voice-over or interviews, so the proposal departs from the usual report, eliminating intermediaries between the film and the audience.