“Things can be told in many ways. Cinema has a great capacity to transform the gaze. It has the ability to talk about topics that, especially ugly ones, only come up when there is tremendous news or headlines,” said filmmaker Juana Macías this Tuesday in a meeting with the members of elDiario.es.
“Cinema has the power to make us talk and reflect on it without the news being there, in a more transversal way. They are perspectives that add up, they are voices,” added the director of The station girls in a conversation with fellow filmmaker Icíar Bollaín and the editor-in-chief of Gender at elDiario.es, Ana Requena. Macías and Bollaín have launched a plea against sexist violence in their meeting in the newsroom.
The filmmakers have talked, just one day after 25N, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, about the importance of art to give visibility to women victims of the patriarchal system, serving as a showcase of a reality that is there and of which society must be made aware.
“Each film is different and helps put you in the shoes of other people who are not like you and who have different circumstances. It represents one more point of progress. It’s not just about raising something that is terrible, but something that can be changed. And each film contributes something, it adds up,” declared Macías regarding the role of cinema in combating sexist violence.
The truth is that the director is in one of the most important weeks of her professional career due to her film The station girlswhich hit theaters last Friday. Her sixth feature film deals with the abuse of minors in care, and in it Macías seeks to denounce the “stigmatization and blaming gaze” that falls on these girls “due to the fact that they belong to that situation or live in a juvenile center.”
“I wanted to tell this story from their point of view. There are things that seem terrible to me, but I wanted to get away from my prejudices and understand them, how they act and what their circumstances are,” the filmmaker explained to the audience, who nodded with empathy.
Icíar Bollaín, who is experiencing a great moment thanks to the premiere of I am Nevenkaone of the most important Spanish films of the year since its presentation in the Official Section of the San Sebastián Festival. The director already focused on sexist violence in her acclaimed I give you my eyeswhich earned him the Goya for best direction in 2004; However, Bollaín delves on this occasion into the story of a woman who in 2000 denounced the mayor of Ponferrada, going back more than two decades.
“The film creates a mirror effect and says where we are today. How the image that was given of Nevenka was one and the reality is another. It was a story that was very worth telling today because we continue at some similar levels: the abuse and harassment have not receded,” said Bollaín, stating that the silence is breaking but remains a constant.
Both have agreed that, although it seems that there is a change, there is still a long way to go. “Sometimes I hear that we have learned… sure?” Icíar Bollaín asked himself ironically, causing a knowing laugh among the audience. “I still remember the ‘la manada’ case, how once again the woman was judged instead of the victims,” the filmmaker recalled. “I admire how a film can talk about child abuse and prostitution without you seeing it explicitly. You feel it, you suffer it, but it happens behind closed doors. And it is the decision of a director who decides not to make this a show,” he commented on The station girlshis partner’s film. “We women are making an audiovisual in which we tell the atrocity of violence without embellishing it.”
Marisol, one of the members attending the meeting, broke the ice during the question time to ask what it was like for Bollaín not to be able to film I am Nevenka in Ponferrada, place of the events. “When we went the first time, the mayor was from the PSOE and we met two councilors who opened a lot of doors and contacts for us so that we could explore it, giving us invaluable information. But, when we started filming with the producers in an official way, the PP ruled with Vox. We submitted filming requests and they have not yet responded to us,” explained the filmmaker. “It is a Government that is very close to [el alcalde acusado] Ismael Álvarez, and I guess they don’t want to get into any kind of trouble.”
At the end of the meeting, Sara, another of the attendees, assessed that “the meeting has been very timely” at this time. “A case from more than 20 years ago and a very current one, but in which there is a very dangerous line of continuity,” adds this Spanish cinema fan, who admits that she has seen so much The station girls as I am Nevenka.
The two films are based on real events, which gives even more weight to the investigation phase. “The more I researched, the more people talked, the more dizzy I got about making the film because the subject is extremely complex. Subthemes begin to emerge everywhere apart from the abuse: life in these centers, the educators, the more human dimension…” Juana Macías said. “It is very enriching, because you learn a lot and break many prejudices,” added Icíar Bollaín.
However, the directors have argued that the generational change that is taking place is positive. “I have seen I am Nevenka with my children, with my nephews, and they see what is wrong. I find it wonderful that young people identify that something is happening and that it is not right,” Bollaín pointed out.
However, as Macías added, there are fronts to which attention must continue: “Now, with social networks, we should take the protection of children very seriously. A lot of sexual violence is being normalized, and through the networks there is an access route that has never existed before.” With their words, both claimed the importance of putting the focus in the right place. And not only in what is told, but in how it is told. The members responded with unanimous applause.
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