Press materials
To view the trailer in English, click here.
To view the trailer in Spanish, click here.
To download high-res photos, click here.
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Press Acclaim
“This courageous, moving, lithe, necessary and eye-opening documentary dares to demand the truth.” – Cineuropa
“One of the most socio-historically significant European documentaries of recent years.” – Film International
USA
“Hauntingly beautiful.” – Film Inquiry
“A furious, near-operatic surge of national pain… Intricately fascinating (...) stoically tender…” – Variety
“A stirring documentary (...) a very necessary story, delivered with rigor and conviction.” – The Hollywood Reporter
"Clear-eyed, clear-headed, and artful (...) It has made a difference in the world." – The Nation
“Carracedo and Bahar wisely keep their probing camera trained on the passionate faces of their subjects, allowing their stirring testimonies to take the spotlight (...) The Silence of Others speaks relevant volumes on the subject of accountability.” – The Los Angeles Times and The San Diego Tribune
“Startling in showing how vestiges of the Franco era have casually persisted in Spain.”– The New York Times
“Exceptionally moving (...) In a style evocative of the best of Patricio Guzmán (...) this film is a milestone in the recovery of a past that is not over—and, to invoke Faulkner, not even past.” – IDA Documentary Magazine
“Terrific documentary (...) valuable history lesson and a stirring mosaic of citizen efforts to bring truth to light so that the horrors don’t happen again.” – San Francisco Examiner
“Monumental.” – Slant Magazine
“Haunting and infuriating, this winner of Spain’s 2019 Goya Award for best documentary bears witness to the price paid for denying the past.” – The Boston Globe
“A plea against inaction.” – The New Yorker
“One of the bitterest cinematic history lessons you'll ever see.” – East Bay Express
“An eye-opening documentary.” (Radio) – Spain's Pact to Forget, María Hinojosa, Latino USA
SPAIN
“Impeccable narration of Franco’s crimes.” – El País
“I celebrate that so many victims of Francoism leave testimony of a long suffering, and talk about the torturers who massacred them.” – El País
“The film that will set Spain on fire (...) There are things that should not be forgotten.” – Playground
“A wrenching and prescient documentary. We can only hope it is seen by those who don’t want to talk about historic memory.” – Cinemanía
“An extraordinary cry against the thieves of memory. The most necessary documentary of the last 80 years (...) When future historians want to learn about our reality, they won’t use newspapers or school books (...) they will turn to works like The Silence Of Others.” – Fotogramas
“A relevant contribution to cinema and history.” – La Vanguardia
“It gives voice to those silenced and visibilizes one of our national shames.”– Ecartelera
“The documentary (...) that reopens the debate about the “Pact Of Forgetting.” – El Confidencial
“Its sober, elegant and accurate style has managed to embarrass all the governments that have forgotten to solve a transition that was not for everyone.” – El Diario
“Shall we forget the Pact of Forgetting? (...) The Silence of Others points again to the impunity of crimes of the Franco dictatorship.” – La Razón
“One of the documentaries of the year (...) it wants us to do the one thing only human beings can do: empathise.” – La Sexta
“The Silence of Others is a direct call upon the viewer as a citizen (...)The documentary gives, on the one hand, privileged access to the inner-history of the so called “Argentine Lawsuit” (...) And, on the other hand, it breathtakingly follows the hopes of the victims for six years.” – RTVE
“To reignite with the desire, not for revenge, but for justice and reparation, watch The Silence of Others of Carracedo and Bahar.” – El País
“Few works, apart from The Silence of Others in cinema and now this one [Chernobyl] on television, have managed to capture so effectively such not so distant horror.” – El País, in their review of HBO’s Chernobyl
“The Silence of Others, the movie which should be shown to all Spaniards so they learn about stories which were buried: those of the torturers, the executed, the stolen babies of Francoism.” – Carne Cruda (Radio)
“If historical memory had always deserved a tear, this documentary claims it before graves and courts.” – Sergi Sánchez, La Razón (printed version)
UK
“The film that wants to stop Spain forgetting.” – The Guardian
“An elegant reckoning. Unfolding with all the force of a classic political thriller by Costa-Gavras or Francesco Rosi (...) The Silence of Others emerges as a moving salute to the small victories of determined individuals.” – Screen Daily
“CRITICS´ CHOICE. This harrowing film catches the essence of this trauma, following victims as they piece together a lawsuit, all too aware of the mass graves by the side of motorways, or the torturer living quietly in an apartment building nearby.” – The Times
“A haunting reminder of the importance of not forgetting the past.” – The Irish Mail
“Powerful.” – Nicolas Barber, BBC Online
“Straightforward, but searingly emotional documentary follows the ongoing struggles of victims who refuse to forget, and who still seek justice.'' –The National Scotland
“A quietly harrowing tale of the brutal 40-year reign of Spanish dictator General Franco and the Spanish government’s “pact of forgetting” his crimes (…) A powerful tale about the ongoing fight for justice.” - The Guardian Tv Tonight
FRANCE
"Gorgeous and moving." – Le Figaro
"The dramatic force of the story of a fight. The film succeeds in fighting and – for a moment – winning over oblivion.” – Le Monde (printed version)
"Extraordinary… With great intelligence, this passionate documentary retraces the threads of memory… With great force, it denounces the denial of justice.” – Télérama
“In Spain, the 1977 Amnesty Law, which enabled to free political prisoners from the Franco regime, also guarantees the impunity of their criminals. The authors have conducted a meticulous and essential investigation into the conditions for the return to democracy.” – Les Fiches du Cinéma by France Hatron
“To say that "The Silence of Others" is an exciting film would be an understatement. Documented with the precision of a goldsmith, the story is particularly striking in how it is made, between archive footage and testimony.” – L'Express par Antoine Le Fur (printed version)
“It's a beautiful film, as we would say of a fiction film: strong characters, suspense held to the end. And it's a great documentary.” – L'Humanité by Emile Breton
“The documentary by Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar, without ever losing its sobriety and its rigor, analyzes the ambiguous realities of a country still divided by the fundamental issues of historical memory.” – Positif by Olivier De Bruyn (printed version)
“This impressive documentary rescues from oblivion the many victims of the Franco regime and lifts the gravestone that still weighs on Spain.” – Télérama by Frédéric Strauss
“Testimony of these hundreds of thousands of sacked lives, the film's success is to show that a community with graying hair (...) has formed, giving meaning to all their individual struggles, made silent and invisible by the Amnesty Law and, at the same time, hope for the future.” – Revue Transfuge by Antoine Du Jeu
“This fascinating documentary follows the quest for justice of a handful of victims of the Franco regime and their descendants, in a country that has always prefered oblivion to truth.” – La Croix by Céline Rouden
“The testimonials are precious. Poignant. Archive images well exploited.” – Le Figaro
“A six-year shoot, a cruel inventory, a combat film, both necessary and poignant. In the genre, a model.” – Le Nouvel Observateur by François Forestier
“A work of public and universal utility.” – Première by Thierry Chèze
“Stunning testimonials highlighting the traumas of a country that continues to favor amnesia, unable to look at its history face to face.” – Le Journal du Dimanche
BRAZIL
“Bahar and Carracedo insert emotion in a rational approach, using time and season changes to add other meanings to the narrative (...) Fleeing from journalistic language and contrasting poetry and reality through images and sounds (...) the film works as a kind of emotional justice (...) stimulating the viewer's awareness to reach a reflection.” – O Globo
"A well organized narrative (...) you can't close your eyes." – Folha de Sao Paulo
“A powerful documentary (...) impactful. Both because of the brutality of the crimes and because of the youth’s ignorance in Spain (...) Necessary.” – Livrolab
“Notable (...) such meticulousness, care and respect (...) A necessary film." – Carta Maior
"An exemplary investigation, with deep respect for human material (...) a documentary with the urgency of history, a film that sheds a necessary light on the past, and also illuminates the moment of obscurantism that the world is going through right now." – CineWeb Brazil
“A melancholic poem... The Silence of Others is poignant and empathetic, instigating an arduous debate (...) Remaining absolutely faithful to the human aspect, tied to the sadness of those that remain and the indelible marks, thus insisting against the dictatorship of silence.” – Papo de Cinema
“A real blow to the stomach (...) It is urgent, necessary and, despite being about the past, current. Do you want more political, social and humanitarian awareness? Go watch this movie. The reflection it provokes is priceless.” – Esquina da Cultura
“The documentary shows that the struggle of the victims against the "pact of forgetting”, which belongs to us all, resonates in all countries that have lived through totalitarian regimes. Each of the testimonies is poignant and shocking. An extremely necessary noise.” – Cine Garimpo
ARGENTINA
"It humanizes a conflict silenced for decades, highlighting the pact of impunity on which Spanish democracy was built (...) a space for reflection on our current states." – Página 12
“The film starkly exposes the testimonies of the survivors (...) following shot by shot the roots of a conviction that has never been eroded.” – La Nación
"Neither forget nor forgive. A touching and necessary documentary (...)a call for justice that has not ended nor it will, even if they try to silence it and forget." – Cine Argentino Hoy
"An unavoidable and shocking film that challenges the viewer's conscience (...) with a clear and concise narrative.” –Metacultura
"An unavoidable appointment with history." – Página 12
"Well done and with attention to detail (...) A portrait of past and current society and a call to strengthen collective memory so that history is not repeated, based on moving and revealing testimonies." – Cinéfilo serial
"A cry for mercy, a cry for justice (...) with such enormous sensitivity that it is almost impossible not to be moved (...) One of those documentaries that at times leave us breathless." – El Espectador Avezado
MEXICO
“Heartwrenching (…) Tears in Mexico for Franco's victims who are looking for their relatives by the side of roads.” – El País México
"It provides hope in the present and in the future to move forward with the history of the people facing institutions and to generate institutional policies that bring justice closer to the people." – Newsweek México
“A shocking and well portrayed tragedy (…) a great documentary.” – LJA
"A film that has become a phenomenon due to the crimes against humanity it addresses." – Paulina Suárez, director of Ambulante
"It emphasizes the importance of listening to the pains of humanity (...) It reveals the human side of the struggle faced by those who are in danger by the mere fact of thinking differently from their rulers." – Pecime México
