15-year-old Emma-pregnant after a rape-defies her repressive rural Protestant community to carve a path of self-determination, transforming trauma into a catalyst for emancipation while confronting the moral hypocrisy of the village and the spectre of World War II around her.
Born in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, Marie-Elsa Sgualdo earned a bachelor’s degree in directing from HEAD and a master’s degree in screenwriting from INSAS. She directed her first fiction short film Vas-y je t’aime in 2009, which was presented at Locarno, and screened at approximately ten other festivals, winning the Best Student Film Award at the Schweizer Jugendfilmtage. In 2010, she followed up with Bam Tchak, which received the Swiss Award at the Bern Short Film Festival. She then directed On the Beach (2012), which was selected at over forty festivals and received multiple awards. Silent Rebellion is her debut feature film.
Salaud Morisset
