By LILA SEIDMAN | Reporter
Feature documentary “Sands of Silence,” centered on empowering sexual abuse survivors, is set to kick off the Malibu International Film Festival at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 5.
The inspirational film by reporter and documentary filmmaker Chelo Alvarez-Stehle has made strides into the public eye: Last week the film came away from its LA premiere at the Awareness Film Festival with the Documentary Feature Audience Award. Earlier this year, it screened at a private Riviera residence.
Executive Producer Deirdre Roney told the Palisadian-Post that many Palisadians helped fund the film, and that they can “now share it with their friends in a larger venue.”
The doc spotlights Virginia Isaias and her harrowing life story of sexual exploitation in Mexico before her eventual escape to the U.S. with her infant daughter—conceived out of gang rape.
Inspired by Isaias’ courage, Alvarez-Stehle unexpectedly embarked on a parallel journey to shine a light on her own story of abuse and exploitation, eventually returning to Spain to confront her long-silent family.
The project, eight years in the making, “transformed from a film on sexual trafficking to a more intimate look at the spectrum of sexual exploitation,” Alvarez-Stehle told the Post at the Palisades screening.
The Nov. 5 screening is free. To RSVP and print tickets, visit malibufilmfestival.org/tickets.
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