Ione Hernández presented Hermanas, her first fiction feature, at the Valladolid festival Seminci. Emma Suárez and Elena Anaya play sisters confronting a case of sexual abuse within their family. The European premiere follows a Toronto screening. Hernández described a story developed over years around the bonds and silence that prevent its characters from acting.
Ione Hernández Sáenz presented Hermanas, her first fiction feature, at Seminci, the international film festival in Valladolid, Spain. Its European premiere followed an earlier screening in Toronto. The film is one of three Spanish titles competing for the Golden Spike. Emma Suárez and Elena Anaya play Chelo and Marta, sisters whose relationship is tested by a case of sexual abuse within their family.[1], [2]
Hernández said she began with the sisters’ powerful bond, then broadened the story to the whole family. She developed the project over several years, asking what prevents its characters from taking action. The story is set in 2021. Suárez described understanding the characters’ silence and fear as a difficult part of the work. Anaya spoke of a silence both imposed on and absorbed by the sisters.[1]
The director said Suárez’s history in Spanish cinema gave her character the presence she wanted, while Anaya offered the vulnerability she had written into the other role. Actor Josean Bengoetxea and producers Lara Izagirre and María Zamora also attended the presentation. Izagirre discussed Gariza Films’ support for women making their first features in the Basque region. These creative choices accompanied Hernández’s move from short films to her fiction-feature debut.[1]
