Released in 2022, the documentary was widely acclaimed both in the Basque Country and internationally. The documentary includes testimonies of Iratxe Sorzabal and her mother, María Nieves Díaz, about the tortures suffered. Two years after its premiere, in June of last year, it was exhibited on the platform Perfecta, in the framework of the day for the protection of victims of torture. This year, on the other hand, it will be broadcast for the first time on public television after Sorzabal was acquitted and admitted to having been subjected to “inhuman treatment”.

The director of the documentary, Jon Mikel Fernández Elorz, values the ETB’s decision “very positively”: “On ETB or on public television we think that giving two breaths, giving a place to the visibility of torture, is very positive.” Fernández says that the Sorzabal ruling has put the issue back on the table and that it is necessary to talk about it: “The more it resonates, the better.” On May 20th, the documentary will be available on conventional TV, although it was previously available on the platform Perfecta.

However, even before coming to ETB, the documentary has come a long way both in and outside the Basque Country: He has had projections in Catalonia, France, Germany, Switzerland and Uruguay. The case of Catalonia was the most prestigious, at least in the Basque Country, where the local public network TV3 acquired the rights and broadcast them in 2023. “At the time it was a huge victory in the fight against torture. From our smallness, I think we put a grain of sand in Catalonia,” says Fernández. At that time, the show had between 190,000 and 200,000 viewers, and has also been shown later on the TV3 platform. “In the Spanish State, where torture is denied, the broadcast of this type of documentary outside the Basque Country and the presence of so many people has an impact on the fight against torture,” says Fernández.

Housework outside the home

The overall assessment has been positive for Fernández, but there are also reasons for criticism, especially the deadline until the decision is reached: “In the case of Sorzabal many international agents had already confirmed that his testimony was true, it was the Spanish courts that denied it, but a thousand other voices had recognized it.”

On the other hand, he criticizes the fact that the issue of torture has been dealt with more abroad than in the Basque Country: “We believe that what has not been done at home has been done by others outside the home. In Catalonia, the issue of torture has been given much more resonance, not only to Dos Ventanas. With cases and complaints we have seen a greater impact in Catalonia than in the EITB”. Fernández says that the ETB has gone after him and that it should be “the other way around”: “Going to the ETB TV3 channel is symptomatic.”