Talcual Films | Ella es el Matador

Ella es el Matador

For Spaniards – and for the world – nothing has expressed the country’s traditionally rigid gender roles more powerfully than the image of the male matador. So sacred was the bullfighter’s masculinity to Spanish identity that a 1908 law barred women from the sport. Ella Es El Matador (She Is The Matador) reveals the surprising history of the women who made such a law necessary, and offers fascinating profiles of two female matadors currently in the arena, the veteran Maripaz Vega and neophyte Eva Florencia. These women are gender pioneers by necessity. But what emerges as their truest motivation is their sheer passion – for bullfighting and the pursuit of a dream.A co-presentation with Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB). US Premiere: Silverdocs 2009. U.S. National Broadcast Premiere: P.O.V. 2009. Awards: 2008 Tribeca All Access Creative Promise Award for Documentary, Best Documentary Women in Direction International Film Festival, Spain 2009, Audience Award Medina del Campo 2010. The film continues to play on PBS, P.O.V, and around the world.