French actress Emmanuelle Béart screens directorial debut film at French Film Festival in Manila

French actress Emmanuelle Béart (right) discusses her film ‘Un Silence Si Bruyant’ with French Ambassador Marie Fontanel (center) and Sen. Risa Hontiveros./ARMIN P. ADINA

MANILA, Philippines — French actress Emmanuelle Béart ignited discussions on incest in her home country when she released her documentary film “Un Silence Si Bruyant” (Such a Resounding Silence) that tackled the sensitive topic. And her directorial debut may also provoke the same conversation among Filipinos, it being the opening feature of the 26th French Film Festival in Manila.

“I’ve been working on this movie for three years. I wrote it for one year, and then I had to find the witnesses for another year, and make them comfortable to talk to me. And then I had to shoot the movie. So it took me three years of my life. So it’s very personal, and very important for me to be here,” the actress said at the festival’s opening program held at the Director’s Club of S Maison in Pasay City on Nov. 25.

The Embassy of France in the Philippines, organizer of the festival, also declared the “Manon de Sources” and “8 Women” actress as the “godmother” of this year’s edition of the annual event. Ambassador Marie Fontanel said “it makes absolute sense” to open the fest with “Un Silence Si Bruyant” because the date also marks the International Day of Fighting Violence Against Women, and just a few days after the International Day for Children’s Rights on Nov. 20.

“I was, of course, very moved by the documentary. And that explains why I really wanted to present it here, and with your help. Why? Because, of course, this is the 26th edition of the French Film Festival, and France is quite known for cinema, culture, glamor, etc. But I cannot consider that cinema is just about cinema and culture as a whole, it is also about advocating for very sensitive matters, for priorities, and promoting women’s rights, children’s rights,” she explained.

Béart has shared that she herself was also a victim of incest for four years since she was 10. “I’ve lived all my life, since I began this documentary, with a kind of sorrow, something really heavy. And I wouldn’t talk to anyone about this. I was ashamed. Then I became a mother and then I chose me this wonderful profession of language,” she said.

“And at one point of my life, I thought it would be wonderful to take this heavy sorrow, and to make something with it. Maybe because I’m an actress, because I’m very well known in France and people think, ‘oh my God, she’s probably very happy, and she had a wonderful childhood.’ And I thought, ‘okay, if people see that it happened to me, and if I dare to talk about it publicly, maybe it will, you know, provoke something and people will be able to dare to talk, too,’” continued Béart, who directed the documentary along with Anastasia Mikova.

Béart and Fontanel conducted a discussion after the movie’s screening at Cinema 5 of SM Mall of Asia, where they were joined by Sen. Risa Hontiveros and other stakeholders in the protection of women and children in the Philippines.

“Just before watching your documentary, there were already conversations among the colleagues here about updating the ‘Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Law,’ bills about children’s courts, about therapeutic centers and such. So, my God, what an afternoon. And the work continues and will continue, because we have this jewel of your documentary also now to share with other people and to move us in our work moving forward,” Hontiveros said.

The legislator had just gotten from Senate hearings on a cult in Socorro in Surigao del Norte. “The children were forced into marriage, forced to engage in sexual activities, denied education, health services, and other opportunities for a life for themselves,” she said, adding that hearings have also been conducted on human trafficking hubs and centers “that have converged around the Philippine offshore gaming operations or POGOs, victimizing women, and also younger women as well.”

Béart said it was her first time learning about such a trafficking scheme from Hontiveros, and it has prodded her to consider making another documentary to tackle the issue.

Béart’s and Mikova’s “Un Silence Si Bruyant” is just one of the 18 French films included in this year’s festival. Martin Macalintal, cultural attaché of the French embassy, presented a lineup of blockbuster movies to attract young Filipino audiences to the screenings. Also on the list are the 2023 comedy flick “Astérix et Obélix: L’Empire du Milieu,” the hip-hop movie “Indes Galantes,” and “Daaaaaali!,” a comedy film described as “a real fake biopic” about the surrealist French artist Salvador Dali.

To see the full list of films and their screening schedules, visit @FrenchEmbassyPH on social media.