8TH OF FEBRUARY

Short Talk with Sara Martinez Sanz (director) and Natalia Ruiz (producer)

Spain / 2023 / 15’03’’

BEST FICTION FILM Category

21st IN THE PALACE International Short Film Festival 2024

Synopsis: Elisa, an aspiring actress, goes to talk about her experience to a journalist. During the interview she becomes aware of what she has gone through and the guilt she is carrying. Based on a true story.

Biography: Sara Martínez Sanz (Spain, 1992) began her professional journey by dedicating herself to dance before diving into acting. She studied in Spain, Los Angeles, London and Rome. She is the co- founder of La Extraña Compañía, a theater company, and founded The Acting Studio Madrid, an acting training school where she directs actors in camera work with her own scripts. As an actress, she has participated in features, shorts, TV shows and theater plays. “8th February” is her first short as a director.

Sara Martínez Sanz , Director

Raya Hristova (author): It is based on a true story, how was the work with sources, who did you
interview, how was the preparation?

Sara Martinez Sanz (director): Тhere were few people, and this is based on one of them, it's an
inspiration from this and also, I've had similar experience, so it's a mix of everything.

Raya Hristova (author): You say a beautiful thing in the movie: “they have this power only because
we're giving them it”. Do you believe it, how are we giving them this power and how we cannot give it
to them?

Natalia Ruiz (producer): Talking and doing these things. It's very important because all women have
been through this.

Sara Martinez Sanz (director): Talking about it and stop being afraid or scared, maybe this way we will
somehow stop. If we keep quiet and we fear losing job or not having our dreams come true it will
continue.

Raya Hristova (author): In the film you ask what a rape is actually and is there a rape without
violence. What is your opinion on it?

Sara Martinez Sanz (director): This question is on this film because I don't really know the answer. I
believe yes, because if I hear “rape” my image in my mind is someone acting with violence, but this is
put in another way, there's no direct violence but, maybe a different kind of with soft words and
promises.

That's what happens to the character. She's: “Have I been raped and I didn't know it?” So, she's been
aware of that in this moment having the interview with the journalist, she thought that that experience
was her fault, because she couldn’t put limits, but he does the same thing with everybody, so is it really
her fault, the fault of the character or whose fault it is?

Raya Hristova (author): What is something that all should women and men understand from this
film? 

Sara Martinez Sanz (director): Man - be aware of your power and use it with responsibility and in an
aware way, because I think a lot of people are not aware of their power and they don't know how to use
it properly. And for women - don't be afraid. We don't know how to act in this situation, what do you do
if this happens to you, like how do you manage, and I think if you see films like this maybe you would
know.

Author's View:

8TH OF FEBRUARY is based on real events and inspired by a story like hundreds of others. It's a heavy
subject that needs to be talked about, that needs to be shared. 

According to the director Sara Martinez Sanz, such films give us a perspective on how to react, what to do or not to do in situations like this, where someone with power takes advantage of someone else who has none. Here the theme of rape is not raised directly to the surface, it is about psychological violence and violence that in the moment may seem like something else. Our main protagonist finds herself in a situation after which she cannot figure out how the following events have unfolded and whose fault it is.

The story is told after it has happened during an interview with a journalist. And once the interview is over, someone else sits in the same chair - a wonderful author's hook, showing that there are many more stories like this to be found. 

Beautiful acting and strong director's vision, conveying all the complexity and confusion of feelings and tangles that can be reflected in such subject.