Catalan filmmaker Albert Serra has carved a unique niche in contemporary world cinema over the past two decades, tackling "unadaptable" canonical texts with bold innovation. His early works, *Honor of the Knights* (2006) and *Birdsong* (2008), reimagined *Don Quixote* and the Holy Bible, respectively, through a minimalist style that defined his approach: using non-actors, three-camera setups, and sparse direction to capture raw, expansive footage. Through meticulous editing, Serra crafted mesmerizing films that emphasize the slow unfolding of gestures and dialogue, aligning him with the "slow cinema" movement. These works also reflect his dialogue with avant-garde traditions, blending the austere minimalism of Andy Warhol with the theatricality of Rainer Werner Fassbinder. This interplay continued in his later period films—*Story of My Death*, *The Death of Louis XIV*, and *Liberté*—which explored themes of decay and desire through the lens of 16th and 17th-century aristocracy.

Serra’s recent films, *Pacifiction* and *Afternoons of Solitude*, mark a shift toward hyper-stylized narratives and documentary realism. *Pacifiction* is a paranoid thriller set in a vibrant Polynesian landscape, while *Afternoons of Solitude* offers an intimate portrait of bullfighter Andrés Roca Rey, capturing the raw intensity of the corrida. This film, in particular, underscores Serra’s commitment to cinema as a documentary medium, revealing the subtleties of human performance with unparalleled precision. Stripped of conventional documentary trappings, *Afternoons of Solitude* confronts viewers with the visceral reality of life and death, echoing the themes of his earlier works while pushing his artistry into new, revelatory territory.

The Harvard Film Archive is delighted to welcome Serra back as a Robert Gardner Fellow, celebrating his profound contributions to contemporary cinema.