28/08/2026 - The filmmaker delves into aspects of his documentary, in which he investigates a Spanish woman who hid behind the persona of a victim of the Twin Towers attack

On 28 August, La superviviente, by Kike Maíllo (Eva), comes out in Spanish cinemas (distributed by VerCine). It's a documentary centred on Tania Head, one of the most recognisable voices among the survivors of the attack on New York’s World Trade Center.

Cineuropa: How does this film connect with your previous filmography?
Kike Maíllo: It connects in a direct way with Oswald, el falsificador. In both, I’m interested in characters that build an identity through lies. But I’m less interested in uncovering or denouncing the lie than in trying to understand what lies behind it: why someone needs to invent another life and, above all, why the rest of us need to believe them. Deep down, both films are about our need to be heard, to fit in, to be loved and to construct a narrative about ourselves that others will accept.

What especially fascinated you about the subject you portray?
The contradiction. Tania builds a lie around one of the greatest tragedies of our time, yet at the same time, that lie ends up having real, positive effects on many people. She becomes a key figure for the survivors: she listens to them, accompanies them and fights for them. That paradox interested me: someone can lie about who they are and still be absolutely real in what they spark in others. And then there was the question that accompanied us throughout the film: who was Tania Head? The more we investigated Tania, the more Alicia emerged. And that’s where the character stopped being simply the 9/11 impostor and began to become someone more complex and human.

What does your film offer that we haven’t seen in reports or other films on the same case?
It specifically strives not to provide yet another report about this woman who fooled everyone. That’s already been told. We started out being drawn to the story of an impostor, but over three years of research, the film transformed: we stopped asking simply how she managed to fool everyone, and instead asked ourselves why she needed to construct that story and why so many people needed to believe it. There are few images of Tania, so we recreated part of that world with an actress, using Tania’s real texts and the testimonies of those who knew her. The intention is not to forensically reconstruct the facts, but to try to get inside Alicia’s head and make the viewer part of that search.

Why do you think that, every now and then - thinking in particular of the case portrayed in Marco - people like this emerge?
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that figures like Tania Head or Enric Marco appear around major tragedies. After a catastrophe, we need narratives that help us understand what has happened. After 9/11, thousands of people were trying to make sense of a brutal experience. And Tania appeared with a powerful story: she had suffered enormously, she had survived, and she had turned that suffering into something useful for others. For someone like Tania to exist, it’s not enough for someone to be willing to invent an identity: you need a society that needs to believe in that identity. And the greater our need to believe, the more powerful that story can become.

Is deception the central theme of your film?
Deception is the entry point. We started out making a movie about a hoax, and ended up making a film about identity and our need to believe in certain narratives. We all construct a story about who we are, we select memories, fill in the gaps, and we need others to recognise the story we tell about ourselves. That’s why perhaps Tania’s story isn’t just about a woman who lied; maybe it’s about all of us.

Is it easy to fool people today, with all the information we have at our disposal?
Yes, because I think that, deep down, people want to be deceived. Or we often prefer to believe what confirms our way of thinking, rather than face a more complex truth. We see it on social media: a half-truth, a skewed news item or a narrative that confirms our worldview is enough for us. We don’t seek the most complete or fair truth, but the one that best fits what we already believe. And I think that happened with Tania, too. Her story was extraordinary, but above all, it was the story that others needed to hear at that moment. That’s why it worked. Perhaps deceiving ourselves today is even easier: we have more information than ever, but also more opportunities to choose the reality we want to believe.

(Translated from Spanish)