Gabriela's family escaped the Chilean dictatorship when her grandfather's life was in serious danger. 50 years later, Gabriela, who has inherited the trauma despite her being raised in Spain, returns to reopen the doors of the home they left behind.
SYNOPSIS
Gabriela's mother and grandparents left their home violently and suddenly during the Chilean dictatorship. Her grandfather was against the regime, and he was imprisoned and tortured several times. If they didn't flee, it would cost him his life.
Gabriela was raised in Spain, and grew up listening to her mother’s stories about Valparaíso: a port city, where she had a magical childhood. Then, darker stories originated: the dead thrown into the ocean, the forced disappeared and the survivors of the tyranny - like her grandfather. Gabriela always believed that the night the military raided their house to take her grandfather, they also took something inexplicable from her mother.
Following the traces of an inherited trauma, Gabriela travels back to Chile and reopens the doors of a house that remained silent for five decades. While many layers of wallpaper are removed, Gabriela tries to recover the memories of her aging grandparents that had returned years ago.
Gabriela is a witness to large social protests in the country. The brutal repression awakens the traumas of her grandfather, who ends up hospitalized. In turn, his absence awakens his wife's traumas. Gabriela begins to understand her place in this country, in this family history, and why it all still hurts so much.
Director Statement
"Here, the Silence is Heard" portrays an intimate process of intergenerational transmission, between grandparents, a mother and a daughter of a family victim of crimes against humanity during the Chilean dictatorship. Told from the perspective of Gabriela, the granddaughter raised abroad, this is a personal story about returning to an unknown homeland to find the director’s identity. But what she is actually seeking is to truly understand the ways this family trauma, that she didn’t experience herself, lives inside her. To do that, Gabriela dives into her mother and grandparents memories and observes them in the present with affection. How do they inhabit the long-term consequences of the violation of human rights and the forced migration? They might never be able to put words on it. But Gabriela starts witnessing this trauma showing up in their daily life.
How can we really understand what people migrating for survival reasons are currently living? How can we acknowledge the deep consequences it will have many generations later? Do we really realize what is escaping death and having to leave home behind? We believe this topic is more timely than ever.
Supporter Statement
Chloe Trayner, Artistic Director at True/False Film Festival and formerly Director at Open City Documentary Festival of London and its Assembly Lab, where the project was awarded with a development fund:
“In Here, The Silence is Heard, the echoes of trauma reverberate resonantly across multiple generations. An intimate and profoundly personal story about family, identity, and memory in Chile, this project signals an exciting emerging voice in new Latin American cinema.”
ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)
Director Gabriela Pena
Gabriela Pena is a Chilean-Spanish documentary filmmaker based in Valparaíso (Chile). In 2024 she co-directed "Familia," a short film, (True/False Film Festival, Camden IFF, DOC/DOX & Awarded Best Short Film at most Chilean Film Festivals including SANFIC). In 2021 she directed her first documentary feature ‘Zoila’ (Best Film at Buenos Aires Documentary Festival's "Genre and Generations Competition"). Currently directing her second documentary feature, "Here, the Silence is Heard" (Chilean-Spanish co-production supported by Sundance Institute and Chicken&Egg Pictures among others).
Co-Director Picho García
Picho García is a Chilean filmmaker and producer based in Valparaíso, Chile. In 2024 he directed "Familia," a short film, (True/False Film Festival, Camden IFF, DOC/DOX & Awarded Best Shortfilm at most Chilean Film Festivals including SANFIC). Currently co-directing his first documentary feature, "Here, the Silence is Heard" (Chilean-Spanish co-production supported by Sundance Institute and Chicken&Egg Pictures among others).
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