She is the Matador

(Ella es Matador)

Gemma Cubero, Celeste Carrasco / Spain / 2009 / 62 min
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Synopsis

Spanish with English subtitles

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.

About the Directors
Gemma Cubero worked as Associate Producer and Investigator on the award-winning documentary Señorita Extraviada by Lourdes Portillo. She also produced Julio Medem’s two feature length documentaries What’s Under Your Hat? and One Percent: Schizophrenia. Gemma has been awarded an Annenberg Fellowship to obtain her MA at the University of Southern California where she investigated documentary as a tool for social change.
Celeste Carrasco worked as Production Manager in Señorita Extraviada. She was also the Sound Recordist in What’s Under Your Hat? Celeste’s additional credits include Honey, I’ve Sent the Men to the Moon, and Both. Celeste currently works for the Opera House in Madrid where directs visual projections for operas with premieres at Teatro Real in Madrid, the Peralada Festival, La Seca in Barcelona and the Basel Opera House in Switzerland.
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