Participants

Serra graduated from Barcelona University with a degree in Spanish and Comparative Literature before embarking on his cinematic career with Crespià, the film not the village. He made his international debut with Honour of the Knights, a reworking of Don Quixote which he wrote, directed and produced. The film received its premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight at the 2006 Cannes Festival and was named one of the best films of the year by Cahiers du Cinéma. It has won awards at festivals across the globe due to the originality and purity of its distillation of Cervantes’ novel: two lone figures walk in silence and commune with the landscape. Serra’s next film, Birdsong, tells the story of the journey of the Three Wise Men. It was filmed in black and white at locations in northern Europe, with the same actors, it screened and won awards at many international festivals (including Munich, Toronto, Vancouver, Mar del Plata, London, Rotterdam and Los Angeles). After completing this trilogy, Albert Serra was named one of the 15 key directors of the decade by the magazine Film Comment. Birdsong also won the 2009 Gaudí Award for best director, best feature film in Catalan and best photography. Serra has a parallel career as a playwright, theatre director and performer. He wrote, directed and acted in the play Pulgasari at Barcelona’s Teatre Lliure and filmed a series entitled Els noms de Crist (The Names of Christ) for the exhibition «Are You Ready for TV??» at the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), in late 2010.