Sands of Silence: Waves of Courage

Sands of Silence: Waves of Courage is a 2016 documentary film that addresses the spectrum of sexual violence, from child sexual abuse and clergy abuse to rape and sex trafficking. It was directed, written and produced by filmmaker Chelo Alvarez-Stehle.

Sands of Silence: Waves of Courage
Official film poster
Directed byChelo Alvarez-Stehle
Produced byChelo Alvarez-Stehle
Written byChelo Alvarez-Stehle
Music byJason Martin Castillo
CinematographyVicente Franco
Lara Weithorn
Edited byMarla Ulloa
María Zeiss
Kate Amend
Jean-Philippe Boucicaut
Production
company
innerLENS Productions
Distributed byinnerLENS Productions
Running time
86 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish, Spanish, Nepali

Synopsis

Sands of Silence: Waves of Courage shares the 15-year quest of world-reporter Chelo Alvarez-Stehle as she exposes the underworld of sexual exploitation and trafficking from Asia to the Americas. Her journey leads to the windswept beach where her childhood ended, and family secrets began. As she documents the transformation of sex-trafficking survivor Virginia Isaias — a Mexican American woman whose past is engulfed in a cycle of sexual exploitation — into an inspiring advocate committed to break that pattern, Chelo undertakes a parallel journey of healing and introspection and sets out to shatter the silence about sexual abuse in her own life.[1]

Release

In July 2017, the film was presented at the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development at the United Nations in New York.[2]

On the occasion of the 2017 International Day for the Elimination of the Violence against Woman, the film was presented at the European Parliament at an event hosted by the Progressive Alliance of Socialist and Democrats (S&D) and PES Women (Party of European Socialist).[3]

The film was broadcast on RTVE Spain's public television broadcast in 2017.[4]

In 2018, Patt Morrison of the Los Angeles Times, moderated a screening and Q&A of the film at the Los Angeles Press Club.[5]

Argentina's Theatrical release of Sands of Silence in August 2019. The film was presented at universities in various continents: Yale, UCLA Law School and NYU, Oxford, Barcelona, Brisbane and Hiroshima.[6][7][8][9]

Sands of Silence had its U.S. broadcast premiere on the WORLD Channel and PBS Stations on Sept. 27, 2020.[10][11][12][13]

Reception

The jury of the 59th SoCal Journalism Awards of Southern California, composed by members of the Los Angeles Press Club and the Washington DC Press Club commented: “A moving, poignant documentary of women learning to deal with the physiological and psychological stresses of abuse".[14]

After its premiere in Spain, the host of RTVE Antonio Gárate called the film "touching ... shocking ... fascinating", during an interview in March 2017 to director Chelo Álvarez-Stehle and the protagonist, Virginia Isaias, trafficking survivor and founder of the Foundation of Human Traffic Survivors in California.[15]

Voice of America: "A major effort is under way in California to fight the problem... As the documentary Sands of Silence currently in production and the [SOS_SLAVES] online game to educate young people that Alvarez-Stehle is developing".[16]

Forbes magazine acknowledged the film's use of new technologies: “...Sands of Silence utilizes technology in a way that brings voice to the victims and survivors of sexual abuse and encourages audiences to take steps toward ending the culture of silence and stigma".[17]

According to Ms. (magazine) "Alvarez-Stehle delves into the devastating and long-lasting impact of this violence, showing how childhood experiences of abuse make women vulnerable to future violence, and the ways girls and women are silenced or encouraged to deny the impact of this violence."[18]

El Mundo daily: “Sands of Silence closes a circle: the cruel trafficking and the daily abuse, the far away and the close by, the denounced and the silent”.[19]

El País daily called it “An invitation to break the silence".[20]

Film critic Julie Casper Roth of Agnès Films Review analyzes: “Alvarez-Stehle... never provokes a quick response from his characters or makes a premature cut to a new scene. This establishes a visual and emotional intimacy between the viewer and the subject”.[21]

Japanese feminist magazine Josei Tembo, published by the ICHIKAWA Fusae Center for Women and Governance, featured the film's in their cover after its Tokyo premiere.[22][23]

Pablo Arahuete's critique for CineFreaks says [in Spanish] that "… a testimony of enormous courage and self-reference that quickly escapes the shortcut of the first-person catharsis. The film questions how the environments surrounding abuse interact among them once the invisible layer that covers and conceals truths, emotions and traumas that crawl over time, and last lifetime, is removed”[24]

Awards

References
  1. "Sands of Silence: Waves of Courage". WORLD Channel. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  2. "2017 Calendar of Events". Equality Now. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
  3. "S&D Film Screening: Sands of Silence". Socialists & Democrats. European Parliament, Brussels. November 21, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
  4. La Noche Temática (November 20, 2017). "Romper el silencio". RTVE (in Spanish). Retrieved December 20, 2019.
  5. "SANDS OF SILENCE: Waves of Courage. Screening". Los Angeles Press Club. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  6. Sanchez Alcochea, Diego (March 9, 2017). "Documentary Screening and Q&A: Sands of Silence-Waves of Courage | St Antony's College". St Antony's College. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  7. "Sands of Silence: Film Screening and Discussion | NYU School of Global Public Health". Public Health NYC. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  8. "Special Screening - Sands of Silence: Waves of Courage". Griffith University. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  9. "Sands of Silence: Waves of Courage | A Spanish cultural event in New York". SPAIN arts & culture. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  10. Alvarez-Stehle, Chelo. "Sands of Silence: Waves of Courage". WORLD Channel. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  11. Baker, Carrie N. (September 23, 2020). "'Sands of Silence': Documentary on Healing from Sexual Violence Premiering on PBS". msmagazine.com. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  12. Burstein, Sergio (September 23, 2020). "'Sands of Silence' pone al frente a una mexicana que sobrevivió a la explotación sexual". Los Angeles Times (in Spanish). Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  13. "Chelo Alvarez-Stehle | Interview | Beyond the Lens". WORLD Channel. September 27, 2020. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  14. "59th SoCal Journalism Awards Winners Announced – Los Angeles Press Club". Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  15. La tarde en 24 horas - La hora cultural en 24 h. (in Spanish), RTVE, March 2, 2017, retrieved August 14, 2020
  16. O'Sullivan, Mike (June 23, 2012). "Californians Target Human Trafficking". Voice of America. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  17. Sadwick, Rebecca. "Access to Technology Can Counter Sexual Exploitation". Forbes. Technology. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  18. Baker, Carrie (September 23, 2020). ""Sands of Silence": Documentary on Healing from Sexual Violence Premiering on WORLD Channel and PBS - Ms. Magazine". msmagazine.com. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
  19. "Violencia sexual... Silencio, se abusa". El Mundo (in Spanish). December 15, 2016. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  20. Gómez, Lula (November 15, 2016). "Una invitación a romper el silencio". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  21. Casper Roth, Julie (September 18, 2017). "Review of Chelo Alvarez-Stehle's Sands of Silence". agnès films. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  22. "女性展望". 公益財団法人市川房枝記念会女性と政治センター (in Japanese). Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  23. Redacción (October 4, 2018). "Obra de cineasta española sobre el coraje de romper el silencio contra el abuso sexual llega a Japón". International Press - Noticias de Japón en español (in Spanish). Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  24. Arahuete, Pablo (August 31, 2019). "Arenas de silencio, olas de valor: Mejor hablar de ciertas cosas". CineFreaks.net (in Spanish). Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  25. "59th SoCal Journalism Awards Winners Announced". Los Angeles Press Club. Los Angeles, EEUU. June 25, 2017. Retrieved 2019-12-07.
  26. "Winners of 31st Annual Imagen Awards Announced". Imagen Foundation. Beverly Hills, CA. September 9, 2016. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
  27. "Best International Documentary Honorable Mention. List of 4TH FBCI WINNERS". 4th Brazil International Film Festival. Facebook Page. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
  28. "La Familia, película premiada como la mejor en el Festival Internacional de Cine en Guayaquil". El Comercio (Ecuador) (in Spanish). Guayaquil, Ecuador. September 24, 2017. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  29. Guldimann, Suzanne (November 2, 2016). "Malibu Film Festival to Feature Local Films". The Malibu Times. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
  30. Guldimann, Suzanne (November 2, 2019). "Malibu Film Festival to Feature Local Films". The Malibu Times. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
  31. "Afirmando los derechos de la mujer entrega sus premios en el cine Albéniz". Málaga Film Festival (in Spanish). Málaga, Spain. April 27, 2016. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
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