Undercover Inside the Bunker

Carlota Saorsa’s 18-month undercover investigation at the Spanish animal testing laboratory Vivotecnia was the longest ever expose of an an animal lab. The shocking revelation of cruelty led to huge public outcry, the lab’s licence to operate was suspended for a time, media around the world carried images from the expose, and individual workers are facing legal action for their treatment of animals.

In 2022 Lush Prize awarded Carlota the Public Awareness Prize (jointly, with Dr Carlos Contreras, the lawyer who had helped bring legal action against the contract research lab following the investigation). Carlota’s findings were released to the world with the support of Cruelty Free International.

Now, a new Amazon Prime documentary, Infiltrada en el Búnker (Undercover Inside the Bunker) has been released worldwide, telling Carlota’s story in her own words for the first time. Directed by Pablo de la Chica (winner of two Spanish Academy Awards), Carlota is played (using her own words) by actress Goize Blanco, interspersed with real footage from the investigation and reenactments of Carlota’s experiences. Using an actress to play Carlota (a pseudonym) was necessary in order to protect her identity as an undercover investigator.

While the scenes of animal cruelty from inside the lab are obviously difficult to watch, this is a deeply personal film which keeps the viewer gripped throughout. Blanco does an excellent job of portraying the emotions and stress of working in such an establishment for a long period of time, witnessing suffering every single day, and having to hide your work from family and friends. The director has also thoughtfully placed the investigation into a wider context of the modern animal rights movement, discussing previous actions and ongoing campaigns, recognising that what was exposed at Vivotecnia is far from being a one off case of cruelty.

Despite the subject matter being one that may not always attract a ‘mainstream’ audience, this film has the potential to reach millions of people due to its combination of a major streaming platform, well known director and actress, and compelling personal story. Hopefully this will lead to a greater awareness of the cruelties and scientific invalidities of animal research and the need to replace it with human-relevant science.

Film trailer:

 

How you can help promote the documentary:

  • Watch the film on Amazon Prime, ‘like it’ or add it to your list (this increases its visibility on the platform and ensures more people see it)
  • Share it with others and encourage them to watch it and learn more about animal research and testing – share the trailer or one of the images below on social media
  • On IMDb, the global movie database, you can add it to your watchlist and leave a rating and review once you have viewed it. Again, this helps the documentary reach a wider audience – go to the IMDb page for the documentary here
  • Use the Resources pages on the Lush Prize website to learn more about animal research and testing, and get active in local campaigns

   

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1 July 2025