Belén Santos, director of ‘No, no quiero’: “Forced marriages have always existed throughout history in all countries”

The director will chat with viewers after the premiere of the film, which takes place this afternoon at 5:00 p.m., at the Broadway

The public of the 68th Seminci has also found in this first day with one of the Special Screenings of the edition: the world premiere of No, no quiero, by Belén Santos. The first screening of the film will take place this afternoon, at 5 p.m., at the Broadway, with a subsequent discussion with the filmmaker. She spoke with the Seminci a little earlier, in the morning, and offered some of the keys to her film.

The director addresses in this work “a little-known reality”, that of the “invisible victims” of forced marriages, which, contrary to what might be thought, is not a phenomenon confined to certain countries, but “has always existed throughout history in all countries”. “It is neither a religious nor a cultural issue, but rather a traditional one,” he stressed. In fact, the cases she deals with are of Spanish women, daughters of migrants.

“When these situations occur, they can accept or not; if they do not accept, the consequences are very serious, they have to face their family and leave them,” said Belén Santos. This is what happened to two sisters of only 12 and 15 years old, forced to “start from scratch without family support”.

The second feature film by the director from Madrid (after Los dioses de verdad tienen huesos) is the result of a proposal by Vértigo Films, specifically by Maribel Muñoz, who was surprised to learn about the unheard-of reality of forced marriages in a radio report. The director also had the support of the association Valientes Acompañadas, which shows, the author remarked, that “things can be done, things can be helped” for these invisible victims. Sometimes their story ends well.