10/04/2026 - In her second feature film, the Catalan filmmaker tackles issues such as vicarious violence and depicts family support centres for victims of abuse

(© Astra Pictures/Avalon PC)

Following its success at the Black Nights Film Festival in Tallin (read the article) and its recent screening at the Málaga Film Festival, The Good Daughter – the new film by Júlia de Paz, following Ama and her appearances in the series Querer and Las largas sombras – is set to premiere in Spain on 10 April, distributed by Avalon.

Cineuropa: Your film tackles little-known issues, reaching tense and almost terrifying moments as it explores the impact of violence on children growing up in difficult circumstances – something you previously addressed in your short Harta.
Júlia de Paz: My co-writer, Nuria Dunjó, and I made the short as a trial run to see whether we felt comfortable tackling this subject and whether we could do so with the necessary respect. We screened it for organisations supporting victims of gender-based violence, and the response was so positive that we decided to expand it into a feature film. At the same time, a friend of mine who worked at a Family Meeting Point explained to me how these centres operate. We also interviewed women who had survived assaults, and they all shared the same fear for their children, worried that they might suffer vicarious violence. With the film, we wanted to remain faithful to the children’s perspective, because their rights are so often overlooked.

But psychological violence is clearly depicted in your film.
There is a severe lack of resources. In these family drop-in centres, the burden falls on the staff, who can only last a few months because they are constantly frustrated — they only get five minutes with each child. Psychological abuse is difficult to prove, but that does not mean it doesn’t exist; it simply leaves no clear, physical evidence that can demonstrate what children are going through.

And in the film, the young protagonist must choose between her father and her mother…
It’s hard for a child to understand why their father would treat them like that. We worked extensively on the idea of loyalty in the script: finding oneself in that position of having to be a good child. They experience immense pressure and ambivalence, wanting to care for their parents, but they don’t have the tools to do so at such a young age. It’s a form of forced maturity.

In The Good Daughter, the women look after, watch over and protect one another.
Because support, resilience and guidance are possible. When we spoke to the children, they kept telling us they lived with the stigma of becoming either victims or perpetrators in the future.

And victims often feel guilty.
The theme of guilt shaped the three generations featured in the film: the grandmother, the mother and the daughter. The father’s character embraces the idea of being a victim. We interviewed prisoners to understand how they perceived love and jealousy. They all insisted that they were the victims. We built the father’s character around that premise.

In Ama, your first film, you were already exploring the relationship between mothers and daughters.
The family environment raises questions for me; it is a setting that profoundly shapes identity. My films focus on characters, and the family provides an ideal context for exploring how roles evolve. It’s a world that sparks both doubt and curiosity in me, which is why it features in both my feature films.

Will you continue working in this vein, or could you see yourself directing, say, a western?
I’d love to! I’m intrigued by genres associated with the male gaze, such as thrillers. What if we approached it from a more feminine perspective? Throughout the history of cinema, intimate cinema  has often been considered more appealing to women. I’d like to find my place in that kind of storytelling too.

The Good Daughter triumphed in Tallinn. Did that surprise you?
Absolutely, especially the audience award. They don’t usually clap, but they really connected with the story!

And Kiara Arancibia, a very young actress making her debut, received an award.
She wasn’t aware of the weight of the film; she came simply to have fun and enjoyed the shoot. We built everything around that, using music to connect with emotions through the songs. She was also coached by Tamara Casellas, the lead actress in Ama who plays a small role here.

And the film is a co-production with Belgium.
We did part of the post-production there. We were inspired by I Have Electric Dreams and one of the technicians from that film (and another from Titane, another key reference for the project) worked on ours.

(Translated from Spanish)