Intergenerational trauma and guilt encircle sisters Chelo (Emma Suárez) and Marta (Elena Anaya) when a celebratory holiday weekend outside Madrid heralding the beginning of summer is overshadowed by a real-life nightmare.
In the middle of the night, Chelo’s tween daughter Sofia awakens her mother, terrified, to confide that she has been sexually assaulted by her 18-year-old cousin, Lucas. While Chelo leaps into action, expertly managing the bureaucracy of hospitals and police statements while trying to stay afloat in caring for her catatonic daughter, Marta refuses to believe that her son would commit such an abhorrent crime.
Ione Hernández’s stunning fiction debut examines a shattered family to investigate the intertwined complications of personal bias, hazardous contrition, and lingering envy, with an intuitive lens and a careful consideration of truth and justice.
Hernández’s unique observational approach exchanges detachment for compassion, highlighting her journalistic eye and expansive tonal control. Each sister stands in mirrored contrast, as Chelo’s reliance on therapeutic resolution contends with Marta’s panicked denial. Suárez embodies a measured sadness that combines grief with strength, while Anaya’s Marta swells, emotionally spent and psychologically bruised.
As the starkly charged trial looms, Marta’s desperation and anxiety mounts, rearing long-suppressed wounds shared with older sister Chelo. With Sofia’s testimony echoing through the courtroom, the sisters must once again struggle through an impossible reality. (Courtesy of TIFF)
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Ione Hernández
PRODUCERS: José Esteban Alenda, César Esteban Alenda, Lara Izagirre Garizurieta, Garazi Elorza, María Zamora, Úrsula Romero Gerberding, R. Paul Miller, Ione Hernández
CAST: Elena Anaya, Emma Suárez, Josean Bengoetxea, Carlota Keiko, León Martínez, Nora Otxoteko, Aritz Kortabarria
Black Sunflowers
The new documentary from filmmaker James Marcus Haney, is one of the Best of TIFF roundups following the festival.
Executive produced by Sean Penn and Dianna Agron, the film has been one of the more buzzy documentaries coming out of TIFF, earning critical acclaim from Deadline, Variety, Vanity Fair, Dazed and more.
“One of the most dynamic and explosive documentaries of the year”
– Deadline
“Haney’s film is a brisk 95 minutes but it packs a punch”
– Vanity Fair
“beneath its rich storytelling, above all, Black Sunflowers is intended to motivate action”
– Dazed
Following young Ukrainians navigating youth, culture and the realities of war, the film moves through underground clubs, street racing and the front line, offering an intimate portrait of a generation coming of age under extraordinary circumstances.
The film also features an exceptional official soundtrack with Fred again.., Brian Eno, Four Tet, Aphex Twin, IDLES, Morphine, Sega Bodega & more, alongside original score from Brad Oberhofer and Ukrainian electronic musician Koloah.
With its strong critical response and distinctive creative world, Black Sunflowers is a standout title to consider for your post festival coverage.
