'Sisters' Starring Elena Anaya Premieres at TIFF — SkimNews
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- "Sisters" ("Hermanas") will world premiere in TIFF's Discovery section (September 10–20), with the premiere date set for September 15.
- Ione Hernández Sáenz wrote and directed the film, her fiction debut after making the documentary "1% Schizophrenia."
- Elena Anaya ("The Skin I Live In") and Emma Suárez ("Julieta") star, with the director saying both gave a "wholehearted 'yes'" to the script before financing was secured.
- The story revolves around sexual assault accusations during the San Juan Festival outside Madrid, focusing on how each family member responds rather than detailing the assault itself, exploring "universal themes of love, guilt and trauma."
- Be For Films (CEO/Head of Sales Pamela Leu) handles international sales, with production from Noesno Film Aie, Solita Films, Gariza Films, Elastica Films and ISB Films.
- Hernández Sáenz credits her journalism and documentary background, saying she starts from a "kind of truth that we can all relate to" before translating it into cinematic images and spaces.
Why it matters: The film marks Ione Hernández Sáenz's fiction debut anchored by two of Spain's most acclaimed actresses — Anaya and Suárez committed before financing closed, an unusual early buy-in that helped the project survive. For TIFF's Discovery section, which spotlights emerging directorial voices, debuting with a cast this heavyweight signals a filmmaker punching above her experience weight on a delicate family-trauma subject.
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