Submission
- France International Apchat-Issoire Festival One Country One Film (Feature Film Section) 2022
- Germany 45th Grenzland-Filmtage IFF 2022 (Feature Films)
- India Pune International Film Festival 2022 (World Competition)
- USA Stony Brook Film Festival 2021
- Turkey International Crime and Punishment Film Festival 2021
- Japan Kadoma International Film Festival 2021 (Narrative foreign films)
- Ireland Kerry International Film Festival 2021 (Feature films)
- Austria Film Festival Kitzbuehel 2021 (Narrative Feature Film Competition)
- Czech Republic Prague Film Awards 2021 (Best Director)Nominated
- France ÉCU - The European Independent Film Festival 2021 Special Jury Mention
- Livan Beirut International Women Film Festival 2021 (Feature Fiction Films)
- Italy Milan International Film Festival Awards 2020 (Best Film; Best Screenwriting; Best Acting Performance Female; Best Music/Sound Design; Best Cinematography)Nominated
- Estonia Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2020 Best Script
- Portugal Caminhos Film Festival 2020
Lúcia is assaulted by her husband and presses charges against him. She fights the Portuguese legal system along with the Prosecutor's Assistant, Maria João Correia, to force her husband, the son of the State's Vice Attorney, into Court. The case takes place in closed session where Lúcia tries to find justice in a predominantly male world.
“90% of the psychiatry hospital wing would be empty if we could address the problem of rape and prostitution in marriage”
Portugal's Leonardo Antonio discusses his Black Nights-screened film Submission, about a woman who files a court case against her own husband for rape.
In its essence, Submission is a film about relationships, exploring emotional attachment, violence and life choices within marriage. During my research for the script, I came to understand that most domestic violence issues are a consequence and not a cause. The real cause is our actual inability, as human beings, to foresee if the person we choose to settle down with will bring positive or negative experiences into our lives.
Submission begins by showing the woman's perspective, the rape victim, the wife, the protagonist. But instead of presenting a predictable victim-centred story, by the end of the film, viewers will have no way of knowing who is right or wrong.
To me, this ambiguity is truly the definition of responsibility in terms of scriptwriting and filmmaking. As storytellers, we are not supposed to answer these questions. We're supposed to present them and remember that they still exist in a world where feminism is finally threading the political world.
1. THE POLARISATION OF POWER
The patriarchal culture in the Western World is changing. Nowadays, equal rights between genders is a fight coming to an end or, in some cases, to a
changeover. Nevertheless, some Western countries, like Portugal, are still deeply connected to it despite the changes in Law. Submission explores the idea that the fight is far from over: even if the female victim has the Law behind her back, her husband, the rapist, holds power not only for being the son of a very influential figure, but also because of his gender which, ultimately, is the only card he plays in Court. The Court itself is the entity which defines power, but with a very big dose of ambiguity along the way.
2. BREAKING FREE FROM GENRE
Most courtroom dramas explore the duality between right and wrong or good and evil. In Submission, this duality is only between points of view, something which is seldom explored in the genre and results in a phenomenon in which the viewer decides for him or herself if the outcome was fair or not. This ultimately gives an opportunity to discuss the subject in a new perspective.
3. A STUNNING ARRAY OF TALENT
Along with a deeply-researched topic and a compelling story, the cast is filled with top talent which brings the movie alive with powerful performances. One of the key features of Submission is the fact that each character, bears a feeling of realism and straightforwardness which is rarely portrayed in stories of this nature. The main aspect which defines the narrative's environment is
a sense of reality which takes place in the actors' expression and solitude towards the matter at hand.