SYNOPSIS
Unbeknownst to much of the world, in Spain today, torture victims live just blocks from their notorious police torturers, who walk free every day. Tens of thousands of parents continue to search for their children who were likely stolen at birth. And families desperate to recover their loved ones’ bodies from thousands of mass graves across Spain are blocked by their own government from doing so.
The Silence of Others reveals the struggle of victims of these, and other crimes, from General Franco’s 40-year dictatorship in Spain (1939-1975), whose perpetrators have enjoyed impunity for decades due to a 1977 amnesty law. It brings to light a painful past that Spain is reluctant to face even today, decades after the dictator’s death. And it tells the story of how victims and their descendants are fighting back, seeking justice more than 7,000 miles away from home.
Over six years, Emmy-winning filmmakers Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar follow a movement that begins in someone’s kitchen and evolves to bring together hundreds of victims and their descendants, who break Spain’s “pact of silence” to join an international lawsuit to prosecute these crimes.
The story unfolds on two continents: in Spain, where survivors and human rights lawyers build a case that Spanish courts refuse to admit, and in Argentina, where a judge takes it on using the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows foreign courts to investigate crimes against humanity if the country where they occurred refuses to do so.
The case marks an astonishing reversal, for it was Spain that pioneered universal jurisdiction to bring down former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, and yet now it is an Argentine judge who must bring Spain’s own past to light.
As the years advance, the case makes history, yielding the first-ever arrest warrants for perpetrators, including alleged torturers, former cabinet ministers, and doctors implicated in cases of stolen children. It brings the nearly forgotten story to the front page of The New York Times, and is generating support for victims of Spain’s dictatorship in Spain and around the world.
The Silence of Others itself has made an impact in Spain, where it has been seen by more than a million people, with the film’s hashtags reaching the #2 trending topic in Spain (with over 50,000 tweets) including a tweet from Spain’s Prime Minister urging everyone to watch the film. Spain’s public broadcaster RTVE called it “The film that everyone is talking about” and Spain’s influential cinema magazine Fotogramas called it “The most necessary documentary of the last 80 years”.
With the global rise of authoritarian regimes and ultra-right parties, The Silence of Others offers a cautionary tale about fascism’s long shadows, and the dangers of forgetting the past. It raises profound questions about how societies grapple with legacies of state violence and what to do with perpetrators of crimes against humanity in their midst.
IMPACT
The Silence of Others won the 2019 Goya – Spain’s Academy Award – for Best feature Documentary and was shortlisted for the 2019 Oscars.
Seven years in the making, The Silence of Others had its world premiere at the Berlinale in February 2018, where it won the Berlinale Panorama Audience Award and the Berlinale Peace Film Prize. Since then, it has participated in 80+ festivals around the world and has won 40+ awards, including a Peabody Award, the Sheffield Doc/Fest Grand Jury Award, Hamptons Film Festival Social Justice Award, Thessaloniki Documentary Festival Audience Award, #2 Audience Favorite at IDFA, Top Ten Audience Favorite at Hot Docs. It was nominated for the 2018 European Film Awards and shortlisted for the Oscars.
Spain Release
After much anticipation during its international festival run, The Silence of Others premiered in theaters in 20 Spanish cities in November 2018. It had the third highest per-screen average in its opening weekend only after Fantastic Beasts and Colette. More than 25,000 people saw it in theaters over the course of a four-month run.
Press across the political spectrum have hailed the The Silence of Others. The influential cinema magazine Fotogramas called it “The most necessary documentary of the last 80 years”. El País described it as an “impeccable account of Franco’s crimes”, conservative newspapers like La Razón featured the film and used it to pose the question “Should We Forget The Pact of Forgetting?”, El Confidencial called it “The film that reopens the debate about the Amnesty Law”. The film’s Goya win inspired newspaper Op-Eds, and the film was a trending topic on Twitter on both the day of its release and the day it won the Goya.
On April 4th, The Silence of Others had a primetime broadcast on Spanish public TV channel "La 2". Substantial national press, appearances on late night shows, morning shows, radio, and social media built up to the broadcast. The film's hashtag "EsTiempodeMemoria" (It's Time for Memory) trended on Twitter for 9 hours prior to the broadcast. Two hours prior, Spain’s Prime Minister tweeted that everyone should watch the film, as well as leaders of other political parties, calling for justice for victims.
That night, more than a million people saw the film. The film's title #ElSilenciodeOtros trended on twitter for 21 hours, and peaked as the #2 topic in Spain. "1977 Amnesty Law" trended for 11 hours, also reaching the #2 topic in Spain. A Change.org petition launched by the protagonists to modify Spain's Amnesty Law reached 150,000 signatures and a viral video based on the film, made by Playground, was viewed 4.3 million times and shared 116,000 times.
Spain’s national broadcaster RTVE called The Silence of Others “the film that everyone is talking about”.
International Releases
The Silence of Others has screened in festivals in over 80 countries, and has been released in 20 countries, including France, where nearly 100,000 people saw it in cinemas; in Portugal where it premiered on the anniversary of the Carnation Revolution; in Brazil where it was released in the early days of the Bolsonaro presidency; in Mexico where Ambulante is touring the film in all Mexican states and has shown it in the Mexican Senate in the midst of a “disappeared” crisis; in Argentina where it premiered with support from the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo; in the U.S. where it premiered at a 4-week run in New York's Film Forum before playing in 30+ cities, and airing on PBS' POV series; or in the UK where it screened in several cinemas before airing on the BBC’s Storyville series.
Special screenings have taken place around the world in partnership with human rights organizations and with educators, and many of the film’s protagonists continue to travel with it. In February 2020 it screened at the United Nations Headquarter in New York with the sponsorship of the the Permanent Missions of Spain, Austria and Belgium, and the participation on the UN Relateur for the Promotion of Truth, Justice, Reparations and Guarantees of Non-recurrence.
TEAM
ALMUDENA CARRACEDO - Director/Producer/Cinematographer
Almudena is an Emmy and Goya-winning documentary filmmaker. Born in Madrid, Spain, Almudena Carracedo developed her professional career in the US, where she directed and produced her debut feature film, the Emmy-winning documentary Made in L.A. In 2012 Almudena returned to Spain to work on The Silence of Others, in collaboration with Robert Bahar. Executive Produced by Pedro Almodóvar, The Silence of Others has won 35+ international prizes, including the 2019 Goya for Best Feature Documentary (Spain’s Academy Award), the Panorama Audience Award and Peace Film Price at the Berlin International Film Festival, and was shortlisted for Best Documentary Feature for the 2019 Academy Awards. Almudena is a Guggenheim Fellow, a Creative Capital Fellow, a Sundance Time Warner Documentary Fellow, a United States Artists Fellow, and holds an honoris causa from Illinois Wesleyan University.
ROBERT BAHAR - Director/Producer/Sound Recordist
Robert is an Emmy and Goya-winning documentary filmmaker. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he relocated from Brooklyn to Spain to direct and produce The Silence of Others, in collaboration with Almudena Carracedo. Executive Produced by Pedro Almodóvar, The Silence of Others has won 35+ international prizes, including the 2019 Goya for Best Feature Documentary (Spain’s Academy Award), the Panorama Audience Award and Peace Film Price at the Berlin International Film Festival, and was shortlisted for Best Documentary Feature for the 2019 Academy Awards. Robert won an Emmy as producer/writer of the documentary Made in L.A., and he spearheaded the three-year impact campaign that brought the film to audiences around the world. He produced and directed the documentary Laid to Waste and line produced several independent films. Robert is a Creative Capital Fellow, a Sundance Documentary Fellow, and holds an MFA from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinema-Television.
PEDRO ALMODÓVAR, AGUSTÍN ALMODÓVAR and ESTHER GARCÍA - Executive Producers
Pedro Almodóvar, Agustín Almodóvar and Esther García are Executive Producers of The Silence of Others. Their production company, El Deseo, is known around the world for Pedro Almodóvar’s extensive body of cinema, including such groundbreaking films as Talk To Her and All About My Mother, both of which won Oscars and Golden Globes. Their films have premiered at Cannes, Berlin, San Sebastián, and Venice, and have won multiple Academy Awards, Goyas, BAFTAs, Cesars and European Film Awards.
KIM ROBERTS - Editor
Kim Roberts, A.C.E., is an Emmy-winning editor whose work includes Unrest, which premiered at Sundance 2017 and won the Special Jury Award for Editing, The Hunting Ground, Oscar® nominee Food, Inc., Oscar® nominees and Sundance Grand Jury Prize winners Daughter From Danang and Long Night’s Journey Into Day, and many others.
RICARDO ACOSTA - Editor
Ricardo Acosta, C.C.E., is an Emmy-winning editor whose work includes Sembene! (Sundance, Cannes), Marmato (Sundance), The Take (Venice), Herman’s House (Emmy winner), and many others.
LEONARDO HEIBLUM and JACOBO LIEBERMAN - Composers
Leonardo Heiblum and Jacobo Lieberman, together known as Audioflot, have been creating music for film in Mexico for 20 years. They have won several awards, including the Ariel (Mexican Film Academy Award) four times. Their films include Allende Mi Abuelo Allende (L’oeil d’or Award for Best Documentary at Cannes), Gael García Bernal and Marc Silver’s Who is Dayani Cristal? (Sundance), Tempestad (Berlinale Forum), In the Pit (Best Doc at Sundance) and Maria Full of Grace (Berlinale Competition, Best Actress and Alfred Bauer Award).
Leo has worked as an engineer and music assistant with Philip Glass and with his music director, Michael Riesman. Jacobo was an original member of the legendary Mexican rock band Santa Sabina.
STEVE MILLER - Sound Designer and Re-Recording Mixer
Steve Miller is an award-winning sound designer and re-recording mixer, whose work includes productions from Spain, the UK, Latin America, and Asia. He is a partner at the Madrid-based sound post-production studio Milciclos, along with multi-award winning sound designer Juan Ferro.
AWARDS
WINNER - Best Feature Documentary - Goya Awards 2019 (Spain Academy Award)
WINNER - Best Documentary - 2020 News and Documentary Emmy Awards (US)
WINNER - Outstanding Politics and Government Documentary - 2020 News and Documentary Emmy Awards (US)
WINNER - Panorama Audience Award - Berlin International Film Festival 2018 (Germany)
WINNER - Peace Film Prize - Berlin International Film Festival 2018 (Germany)
WINNER - Grand Jury Award - Sheffield Doc/Fest 2018 (United Kingdom)
WINNER - Peabody Award 2020 (US)
WINNER - Best Documentary Feature - Platino Awards 2019 (Iberoamerica)
WINNER - Best Feature Documentary - Forqué Award 2019 - (Spain)
WINNER - Founders Award for Best Foreign NonFiction Film - Traverse City Film Festival (US)
WINNER - Nº2 Audience Favorite - IDFA, International Documentary Film Festival of Amsterdam (Netherlands)
WINNER - Top 10 Audience Favorite - Hot Docs, Canadian International Documentary Festival (Canada)
WINNER - Victor Rabinowitz & Joanne Grant Award For Social Justice - Hamptons International Film Festival (US)
WINNER - Best Documentary - Santa Fe Film Festival (US)
WINNER - Best Film “Testimony on Politics”- Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival (Czech Republic)
WINNER - Special Mention of the Jury, Creative Documentary - Geneva International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (Switzerland)
WINNER - Audience Award Winner - Favourites Film Festival Berlin (Germany)
WINNER - Best feature Film - Evolution Mallorca Film Festival (Spain)
WINNER - International Federation of Human Rights Award - Festival des Libertées (Belgium)
WINNER - Salvador Allende Award - Festival des Libertées (Belgium)
WINNER - Audience Award - Free Zone Belgrade International Human Rights Award Film Festival (Serbia)
WINNER - Best Feature Documentary - Kobanê International Film Festival (Syria)
WINNER - Jury Award for Best Documentary - Brasilia International Film Festival (Brazil)
WINNER - Audience Award for Best Film - Brasilia International Film Festival (Brazil)
WINNER - Critics “José Carlos Avelar ” Award - Brasilia International Film Festival (Brazil)
WINNER - Critics Award - Carcassonne Political Film Festival (Francia)
WINNER - Pare Lorentz Award - International Documentary Association Awards 2018 (US)
WINNER - Special mention, Best Documentary - Take One Awards 2018 (UK)
WINNER - Best Spanish Film Award - Madrid Film and Human Rights Festival (Spain)
WINNER - Best International Film - Oslo HUMAN Rights Wrongs International Documentary Festival (Norway)
WINNER - Stefan Jarl International Documentary Award - Tempo Documentary Festival (Sweden)
WINNER - Peter Wintonick Audience Award - Thessaloniki Documentary Festival (Greece)
WINNER - Best Documentary Film Script - Screenwriters Union ALMA Awards 2018 (Spain)
WINNER - Youth Prize - Rencontres du Cinéma Espagnol de Nantes (France)
WINNER - Backsberg Audience Award for Best International Film 2019 - Encounters International Documentary Festival (South Africa)
WINNER - Jury Prize International Documentary - Rasnov History and Film Festival (Rumania)
WINNER - Best History Documentary - Beyond Borders International Documentary Festival (Greece)
WINNER - Best Documentary Feature - Boston Latino International Film Festival (US)
WINNER - Audience Award - Boston Latino International Film Festival (US)
WINNER - Best Documentary - CineHorizontes - Festival de Cinéma Espagnol de Marseille (France)
WINNER - Audience Award - CineHorizontes - Festival de Cinéma Espagnol de Marseille (France)
SHORTLISTED - Best Documentary Feature - Oscars 2019 (US)
NOMINEE - Best European Documentary - European Film Awards (EFA) 2018 (Europe)
NOMINEE - Best Feature Documentary - International Documentary Association Awards 2018 (US)
NOMINEE - Spotlight Award - Cinema Eye Honors 2019 (US)
NOMINEE - Best Documentary - National Cinema Award CEC 2019 (Spain)
NOMINEE - Best Documentary - Feroz Awards 2019 (Spain)
LUX PRIZE SELECTION - European Parliament Lux Film Prize 2018 (Europe)
FESTIVALS (SELECTED)
Berlin International Film Festival (Germany)
Sheffield International Documentary Festival (United Kingdom)
Moscow International Film Festival (Russia)
Hot Docs - Canadian International Documentary Festival (Canada)
Millenium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival (Poland)
Transilvania International Film Festival (Romania)
Oslo Pix (Norway)
Human Rights Watch Film Festival New York (US)
AFI Docs - American Film Institute Documentary Festival (US)
Traverse City Film Festival (US)
DMZ International Documentary Film Festival (South Korea)
Dokufest Kosovo - International Documentary and Short Film Festival (Kosovo)
Los Angeles Film Festival (US)
Hamptons International Film Festival (United States)
Docs Lisboa International Film Festival (Portugal)
Morelia International Film festival (Mexico)
Mostra Sao Paulo International Film Festival (Brazil)
Valladolid International Film Week (Spain)
Evolution Film Festival Mallorca 2018 (Spain)
Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival (Czech Republic)
Seville European Film Festival (Spain)
Mar del Plata International Film festival (Argentina)
Cairo International Film Festival (Egypt)
IDFA (Best of Fest) / IDFA - International Documentary Film Festival of Amsterdam (Netherlands)
Brazil International Film Festival (Brazil)
Carcassonne International Politics Film Festival (France)
Madrid Film and Human Rights Festival (Spain)
Havana International New Latinamerican Cinema Film Festiva (Cuba)
BIG SKY Documentary Film Festival (United States)
Miami International Film Festival (United States)
Istanbul International Film Festival (Turkey)
Thessaloniki International Film Festival (Greece)
Guadalajara International Film Festival (Mexico)
Cartagena de Indias International Film Festival (Colombia)
Encounters South African International Documentary Festival (South Africa)
CPH DOX Copenhagen International Documentary Festival (Denmark)