Running with Bulls

Presented by UK journalist Jason Farrell (Sky News) Running With Bulls captures and explores the thrills, passion and controversy of the Pamplona Bull Run. The San Fermin Festival in Pamplona, Spain is a celebration of life, of shared history, of family and religion. It is a fiesta like nothing you'll ever experience anywhere else in the world and one reason for this is the famous spectacle of the bull run. Each morning for seven days, six fighting bulls tear through the narrow streets while thousands of thrill-seeking runners sprint alongside them to test their skills and courage. However, each afternoon, the same fighting bulls are ritually slaughtered by Matadors in a stadium of 20,000 people. For those who care about animal welfare but also respect long-held traditions, the festival throws up quite a moral dilemma. After experiencing it, three things can happen: either you fall in love with the opera of the spectacle, or you detest it to your core, or you are tugged both ways. Through this film the narrator attempts to see the festival from all perspectives: the runners, the protesters and the bulls themselves. The film follows the journey of six fighting bulls from their countryside ranch in southern Spain, to the outskirts of Pamplona and then on their run through the cobbled streets to the stadium's Gate of Fear. Along the way we meet many characters who are all very passionate in their reasons for being involved. But despite the popularity of the festival, we're asked whether it can and should survive in today's world in this fascinating and in-depth portrait of a tradition that is both loved and loathed.