Like thousands of other Chileans, Haydee lives with the scars of General Pinochet's violent military coup. Just 21 years old at the time and pregnant, she was so brutally tortured by four naval officers in 1975 that she miscarried her unborn son. Forty years later, filmmaker Pachi Bustos finds Haydee on the verge of receiving justice through the courts. Remarkably, she had only spoken of her ordeal publicly once before, for a short magazine story. When a complete stranger read her account, he filed a motion that initiated the historic trial on Haydee's behalf. Despite an imminent verdict, Haydee's memories of that time remain frozen, the psychic wounds so fresh that she howls like an animal when simply having blood drawn. Can any court free her from her past, or the country of its collective pain? Original and thoroughly moving, this testament to one woman's resolve creates hope from a terrible silence. Myrocia Watamaniuk
Persister program presented in partnership with OXFAM CANADA.