fe sense obres morta és, d’Albert Serra
As part of Festival Loop, followed by a conversation between Albert Serra and Joan Burdeus.
The Museu Tàpies has organised a series of screenings for the public presentation of fe sense obres morta és [faith without works is dead], the new film production by Albert Serra, which renders homage to the person and work of Antoni Tàpies. The initiative arose from the museum’s intent to expand understanding of the Tàpies’ legacy through “indisciplined” contemporary gazes, able to forge new narratives from his work. The proposal pertains to a line of programming that emphasises experimentation and dialogue between diverse artistic expressions.
In this context, Serra—an internationally recognised filmmaker, producer and screenwriter whose career is distinguished by formal freedom and conceptual radicality—has accepted the challenge of creating a personal, unrestrained and nontransferable approximation to the universe of Tàpies. The result is a film that does not seek to explain nor interpret, but rather to suggest, invoke and emotionally move us. It is a piece that is open and sensorial, opting for poetic evocation over direct representation.
In fe sense obres morta és, Serra delves into the most intimate and spiritual terrains of the production of Tàpies, exploring the material limits, symbolic charge and philosophical density of a unique gaze that is incorruptible and always provocative. The film sidesteps conventional narrative in constructing an immersive experience that dialogues with the artist’s thought and aesthetics, accentuating their present-day relevance, complexity and transformative verve. It is an audiovisual project that is much more than a portrait or exercise in interpretation: it is an autonomous artistic proposal that, with the world of Tàpies as its starting point, reveals hidden and unexpected aspects of it. It is also an invitation to approach Tàpies from new perspectives, through the language of film as a realm of reflection and interpretation.
With this screening series, the Museu Tàpies solidifies its commitment to contemporary creation and to the critical revision of Antoni Tàpies’ work, encouraging encounters between a diverse set of generations, disciplines and artistic sensibilities.
Fact sheet:
fe sense obres morta és
Albert Serra, Catalonia, 2025. DCP, Catalan, 52 min.
Albert Serra has a degree in Spanish Philology and Comparative Literature from the University of Barcelona. As a film director, he is considered one of the leading contemporary filmmakers internationally. His international debut was with Honor de cavalleria, which premiered at the Directors’ Fortnight of the 2006 Cannes Film Festival; it was considered one of the best films of the year by the prestigious French journal Cahiers du Cinéma. In 2009 he returned to Cannes with El cant dels ocells, which was chosen for and won awards at various international festivals. He has also directed projects for museums: Els noms de Crist, presented at the MACBA exhibition Are You Ready for TV? (2010); and El Senyor ha fet en mi meravelles, for the exhibition The Complete Letters at the CCCB. In 2013 he wrote and directed the film Història de la meva mort, winner of the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival, and considered one of the best films of the year by The New Yorker. These recognitions situated him on the stage of world cinema. In 2016 he premiered La mort de Lluís XIV, which won the Prix Jean Vigo and received seven nominations for the Gaudí Awards. In 2019 he returned to Cannes with Liberté, a film about the libertines expelled from the puritan court of Louis XVI, wining the Special Jury Prize. In 2022 he directed Pacifiction, a hypnotic thriller shot in French Polynesia. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, competing for the Palme d’Or, and was chosen best film of 2022 by Cahiers du Cinéma; it also won the Louis Delluc Prize and received nine nominations for the César Awards.
