.jpg)
Celebrating Marta García Aliaga
- Natalie Collins
- 5 hours ago
- 2 min read
by Natalie Collins
Founder and CEO
At Own My Life we love celebrating women, and as it comes up to five months since Lover Liar Predator first aired on BBC (if you're in the UK, you can watch it HERE), I wanted to especially celebate Marta García Aliaga and the way she brought to life the story shared by four women (including me) of being abused and raped by the same man and the efforts required to see him convicted and imprisoned.
The film was a complicated process to be part of, not least because it’s a complicated story to tell! Conversations about making a film began when we were approached by Marta García Aliaga, who had seen news coverage of the story. From the very beginning, Marta was authentic, passionate and committed to us.
Marta maintained an uncompromising commitment to empowering and partnering with us for the film. In doing so she created a cinematically beautiful film that made our complicated story incredibly accessible, and enabled the viewer to better understand abuse, trauma, women's strength and the potential for solidarity that women can build.
The film includes how Own My Life was part of the story and we have had scores of women contact us to say that Lover Liar Predator enabled them to recognise an abuser in their own lives (some from the past and others in the present) with the film enabling some to break free of an abuser’s control. Others have been in touch to say the film helped them feel equipped to support friends and family better. And I have heard from a number of abuse experts that Lover Liar Predator is the best unscripted film they've ever seen on the topic. This was largely due to Marta's radically different approach to directing.
From the very beginning, Marta was authentic, passionate and committed to us. She was a constant supportive presence and through the relationship she built with each of us we were able to show up as our full selves.
As we were preparing for the film to be aired, the executive producers told us there were struck by how extraordinarily open and frank we each were, with no self-consciousness about being on camera. While this was in part about what each of us brought, it was mostly because Marta built strong relationships trust with each of us, and we genuinely knew she held our interests above all others.
Even after the film aired, she remains a dear sister and I have been blown away by how well the film portrayed us and our story. We were shown as full, rounded humans, and the film brought our joy, strength and sisterhood to the fore, while also making clear the harm we were subjected to, both by the abuser and by the systems that failed us.
The film itself is so important for women, and Marta’s leadership is why it is transformational, firstly for viewers as they watch, and are challenged and changed. But also for each of us, as Marta made a film that we’re all proud to be a part of. Thank you Marta!
Comments