Two women, two generations, same trauma - a deaf PhD student seeks help from her university counsellor, only to discover that silence runs deeper than one woman, one story, one generation.
The film unfolds in real time: a deaf PhD student, her sister who interprets for her, and a female university adviser. Two women, same trauma. One silent for thirty years, the other for eighteen months. One needs to speak; the other can't bear to hear it. I understand both.
I did not remain silent about the rape that happened to me many years ago, though not by choice, three friends witnessed but could not intervene. Yet I rarely spoke about it afterward. Shame and fear led me to downplay it: "Shit happens, move on. Get over it. In the grand scheme of things, a rape is… merely a rape." That toughness brought me a lot, but it also held me back in ways I didn't fully understand for a long time.
My very first script, written while I was still an actress, also dealt with rape. The theme: A happy life is the best revenge. At the time, that belief helped me survive. But when I revisited the script years later and began researching, I found shocking statistics: after #MeToo, reports of sexual abuse rose by 60-70%, yet actual charges filed increased by only 1%. This made me realize how vast the group of people is who remain silent, whether silenced by others or by themselves.
A happy life is indeed the best revenge, a powerful and valuable response to inflicted misery, one I have personally benefited from. But breaking the silence must come first. Resurrection requires language. A voice. Before rewriting that script, I knew I had to write something about the necessity of breaking silence and its cost.
The #MeToo movement revealed not just shocking numbers of stories, but also a troubling backlash, often from older women dismissing the movement as humorless, prudish, and one-dimensional, warning younger women not to embrace "victimhood" as if it makes them weak. I find this critique inappropriate and troubling. Young women demand change, while an older generation warns against victimhood. But if you have been assaulted or raped, you are a victim, and that truth is not a weakness. Yet society often equates victimhood with weakness, as if acknowledging what happened diminishes you, rather than recognizing your resilience and survival.
The virality of #MeToo, the persistence of the wage gap, slut-shaming, women's vulnerability in public spaces, these make painfully clear that the promise of gender equality and safety remains unfulfilled. Unequal power dynamics and transgressive behavior are still deeply entrenched. The #MeToo movement has made it unmistakably clear that this is not about a handful of individual cases but about the systematic marginalization and oppression of women as a group.
Society urges survivors to speak out, yet we do not bear the consequences with them. We offer victims of sexual abuse little to no justice. Discouragement is often standard policy rather than an exception. Going to court in sexual abuse cases can feel like a second violation. There is something fundamentally wrong in how we deal with victims of sexual violence.
I hope this film broadens awareness of the devastating impact of sexual violence and the corrosive weight of silence. I hope it encourages survivors to reclaim their voices and sparks deeper reflection and discussion in audiences worldwide. And I hope it reveals how decisive the role of the bystander is, how silence isn't just the survivor's burden, but a choice made by everyone who witnesses and does nothing.
- Marnie Blok
Marnie Blok is a former actress and award-winning screenwriter. Her final acting role was in Frailer (TIFF 2014). She wrote several acclaimed feature films like, Jackie (TIFF 2012) and the Swedish film Simon and the Oaks, which earned her the Montblanc Scenario Prize. The feature Open Water received nine nominations for the National Film Awards, including Best Feature Screenplay. Blok also created and wrote renowned TV series such as Line 32 and Ramses, which won multiple awards, including Best Screenplay (NL), the Nipkow Award, the Prix Europa, and an International Emmy for Best Actor. Her series Childhood Dreams was selected for CANNESERIES 2022 and won Best Series at the New York Festival 2024.
Her directorial debut, Beyond Silence, is awarded Best Narrative Short at the Tribeca Film Festival 2025 and received Best International Short, and a special mention for Best Acting, at the Palm Springs International ShortFest 2025. The film also won Best International Short at Cordillera International Film Festival 2025 and the bronze prize for Best Short at MANHATTAN SHORT Film Festival with Henrianne Jansen winning Best Actor.
Amsterdam based PRPL – founded by Ellen Havenith – has a love for inspiring, challenging, heartfelt stories and filmmakers. PRPL focuses on feature films with gutsy writer/director signatures that can emotionally connect with an inclusive (genre) audience.
PRPL’s awarded feature films premiered at the film festivals of Cannes, Sundance, Berlin, Toronto, Rotterdam, Locarno, Tribeca and six films were the national entries to the Academy Awards. In 2023 When It Melts (by Veerle Baetens) won Best Performance at Sundance and seven-countries-production Tiger Stripes (by Malaysian Amanda Nell Eu) premiered at Cannes’ Semaine de la Critique where it won the Grand Prize. In 2024 mid-length debuts BINARY (by DJ Bronsgeest) premiered at IFFR and Fantastic Fest and Iris Prize shortlisted Where We Stay (by Florence Bouvy) at Palm Springs IFF. Short Beyond Silence (by Marnie Blok) won Best Narrative Short at Tribeca 2025 and Best International Short at Palm Springs.
Upcoming features currently in post-production include Quatro Meninas (by Karen Suzane, BR-NL) and The Souls (by Tallulah Schwab, NL-EE).
PRPL/Ellen is a member of the European Film Academy, and part of the Rotterdam Lab, Cannes’ Producers on the Move, EAVE, ACE and INDABA networks.
Harald Swinkels is an award-winning writer, director, and producer, as well as founder of the Dutch film production company Exosphere. His debut short Drawback (2024), featuring Claes Bang, established his approach: psychologically complex narratives exploring moral ambiguity through mesmerizing visual craft. The film earned 44 international festival awards.
Beyond Silence (2025) is his first project as producer outside his own directorial work—a deliberate choice to support this bold, necessary narrative.
Odessa (2025), still in post-production, escalates his vision—a 35mm period piece exploring the human capacity for kindness and cruelty, set against one of the darkest periods in human history and the haunting beauty of the Dolomites.
The decision to have a team of female department heads is a statement and a source of insight that enriched the film.
Beyond Silence was made by an extraordinary team of mainly female department heads, a choice that resonates deeply with the film’s story. Every leading position is held, or at least co-held, by a woman, from producer Ellen Havenith to line producer Wieke van der Kley, cinematographer Myrthe Mosterman, gaffer Janneke Hogenboom, sound recordist Simone Galavasi, production designer Lela Claasen, key makeup and hair artist Trudy Buren, editor Annelien van Wijnbergen, and sound designer Evelien van der Molen.
In a film where silence and voice, invisibility and presence are at the heart of the narrative, the decision to have a team of female department heads is a statement and a source of insight that enriched the film.
Beyond Silence is the debut of Henrianne Jansen. Director Marnie Blok was determined to find a deaf person to portray the role of Eva, to bring truth and immediacy to the role, ensuring the portrayal would be grounded in authenticity. Jansen, who is born deaf, graduated as a teacher in Dutch sign language, and completed a year of deaf studies at the Gallaudet university in Washington, D.C.
With Beyond Silence, Henrianne received a special mention for Best Acting, at the Palm Springs International ShortFest 2025 and Best Actor at MANHATTAN SHORT Film Festival 2025.
Sigrid ten Napel is one of the most celebrated Dutch actresses of her generation, known for her emotionally charged performances on screen and stage. Since graduating from the Maastricht Academy of Dramatic Arts in 2015, she has starred in acclaimed films including Trauma Porn Club (2024, nominated Best Dutch Actor), A Certain Kind of Silence (2019, Cairo International Film Festival - Best film nomination), Summer (2014, National nomination – Best Actress), and Prince (2015, National nomination – Best Supporting Actress). She was also part of the ensemble cast of The Paradise Suite (2015), which won multiple national awards and was the Netherlands’ official submission for the Academy Awards’ Best International Feature Film.
Tamar van den Dop is a distinguished Dutch actress whose career spans nearly four decades, marked by memorable performances in film, television, and theatre. She made her screen debut in Op hoop van Zegen (1986) and gained international attention with roles in Character (1997, Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film), Wolfsbergen, and the TV drama Black Snow, which earned her a National award. Recent acting work includes Halina Reijn’s Instinct (2019) and the long-running dutch series Oogappels (2019–present).
A graduate of the Maastricht Academy of Dramatic Arts, van den Dop has been honored with the Colombina Prize for Best Supporting Actress in theatre.
