{"id":59853,"date":"2025-07-12T15:08:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T15:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/59853\/"},"modified":"2025-07-12T15:08:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-12T15:08:10","slug":"pere-vila-barcelo-tackles-rape-in-when-a-river-becomes-the-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/59853\/","title":{"rendered":"Pere Vil\u00e0 Barcel\u00f3 Tackles Rape in ‘When a River Becomes the Sea’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tCatalan filmmaker Pere Vil\u00e0 Barcel\u00f3<\/a> talks about rape in \u201cWhen a River Becomes the Sea<\/a>.\u201d But he never, ever intended to show it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re focusing on trauma and the process of healing. It\u2019s a long and complex journey that many women shared with us in great detail \u2013 sometimes even more so than the assault itself,\u201d he tells\u00a0Variety.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tPremiering at Karlovy Vary Film Festival<\/a>, his intimate drama is about \u201cmoments that don\u2019t appear in news headlines,\u201d he explains.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt explores the margins of the emotional, psychological and social aftermath that often remains invisible. For us, this wasn\u2019t only a cinematic choice. It was a matter of respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe adds: \u201cWe even shot a courtroom scene but chose to leave it out to avoid re-victimization and any sense of voyeurism or sensationalism. Many survivors describe the judicial process as a second assault, since they often face institutional violence as well. Being doubted, retraumatized or treated without sensitivity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s what happens to Gaia as well. The young archaeology student \u2013 played by Claud Hern\u00e1ndez \u2013 is unable to speak about what happened to her for the longest time. When she finally reveals her boyfriend assaulted her, she\u2019s met with doubt and dismissal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s something I\u2019ve heard again and again. Victims are doubted, isolated and dismissed, while the aggressor goes on with his life as if nothing happened, without even being fully aware of the harm he has caused,\u201d observes the director.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis points to a lack of education, and to the fact that both men and women are raised within a patriarchal society. That\u2019s also why I wanted to introduce this archaeological concept \u2013 not just as a metaphor, but as a scientific and evolutionary approach. The professor explores historical roots of patriarchy: when did it begin, how did it take shape and who enforced it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tProduced by\u00a0Xavier P\u00e9rez D\u00edaz\u00a0for\u00a0Fromzerocinema, \u201cWhen a River Becomes the Sea<\/a>\u201d is \u201cnot just a film,\u201d says Vil\u00e0 Barcel\u00f3, but a project \u201crooted in social activism and awareness.\u201d One that allowed him to connect with several associations of survivors of gender-based violence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThese collaborations have helped us bring visibility to their voices and their message,\u201d he says, mentioning testimonies of more than 100 women who have experienced physical and psychological violence, as well as insights from psychologists specialized in the field.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m also working on a series of documentary pieces, including interviews and reports, that \u2013 together with the film \u2013 can serve as educational and pedagogical tools to foster reflection and awareness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe whole project started eight years ago, when he was leading a filmmaking workshop at a high school in his hometown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen it came to decide the subject of the short film the students would make, someone suggested addressing sexual abuse. Some of the young girls \u2013 just 14 or 15 years old \u2013 began to share personal experiences of abuse they\u2019d gone through. It deeply affected me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe wanted to better understand the issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI started conducting interviews with the survivors of all ages. It has not only changed the way I see the world; it has changed me, profoundly. As a person, as a filmmaker, I carry these stories with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAt one point in the film, desperate and confused, Gaia wonders: \u201cIs it always going to be like this?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s not just a moment of despair \u2013 it\u2019s a moment of disorientation. She no longer recognizes herself. She doesn\u2019t understand the person she has become, or why someone, against her will, has forced this change upon her,\u201d he says about the scene.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI remember one interview with a 14-year-old girl who gave a powerful description of how she felt. She said:\u00a0\u2018It\u2019s like someone unzipped me, took everything out, scrambled it all up, then stuffed it all back inside and zipped me up again.\u2019 When Gaia asks that question, what she\u2019s really asking is:\u00a0\u2018Will I ever go back to who I was?\u2019\u00a0And sadly, the answer is no.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tInstead, she\u2019ll go through a painful process that\u2019ll \u201clead her to become someone else, with a deeper understanding of herself.\u201d And she\u2019ll do it with the help of her father (\u00c0lex Brendem\u00fchl), even though he feels helpless at first.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHer father finds himself unable to communicate with someone he\u2019s known since the day she was born. He has no idea how to reach her. She enters a new emotional code that neither he, nor most of the people around her, are equipped to understand. They haven\u2019t been taught how to process or recognize certain emotions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tVil\u00e0 Barcel\u00f3 couldn\u2019t ignore the fact that sexual violence also \u201cprofoundly affects the fathers, brothers and partners of many women.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat\u2019s why it felt essential to focus on his ongoing effort, his struggle to understand something that, to him, was unimaginable,\u201d he notes, intending to portray the kind of masculinity \u201cthat\u2019s not toxic, but compassionate.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMost people are not prepared, or sometimes not even willing, to face situations like the one portrayed in the film. Her father, despite not having that emotional education, chooses to look directly at his daughter and stay by her side. His presence is quiet, but for me, that\u2019s a powerful gesture.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe says: \u201cMen also need to be a part of the struggle for equality and that starts with caring for the people we love. This is an issue that should affect all of us, regardless of gender.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Catalan filmmaker Pere Vil\u00e0 Barcel\u00f3 talks about rape in \u201cWhen a River Becomes the Sea.\u201d But he never,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":59854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[171,32653,40772,53,43455,10409,67,132,68,43456],"class_list":{"0":"post-59853","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-karlovy-vary-film-festival","10":"tag-kviff-2025","11":"tag-movies","12":"tag-pere-vilu00e0-barcelu00f3","13":"tag-sexual-assault","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-when-a-river-becomes-the-sea"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114840895787951640","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}