featuring @lunapalacecinemas @silenced_film @sharmillfilms
There are documentaries you watch, think about for a while, and then move on from. Then there are films like Silenced — films that leave you sitting in your seat as the credits roll, processing what you’ve just witnessed and questioning how a system that is supposed to protect people can instead become another weapon used against them.
I had the opportunity to see Silenced at a special Q&A screening at Luna Leederville, and the experience of watching the film in a cinema before hearing from people working in this area made its already confronting subject matter feel even more immediate.
Directed by Selina Miles, Silenced examines what happened after the #MeToo movement encouraged women around the world to speak openly about sexual violence and harassment. Rather than simply celebrating those voices, the documentary looks at the backlash that followed — particularly the way defamation law and public scrutiny can be used to intimidate, discredit and financially devastate survivors and journalists.
At the centre of the film is international human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson, who provides a compelling thread connecting several very different stories. Through Robinson, we are introduced to cases involving Amber Heard, Colombian journalist Catalina Ruiz-Navarro and Australian advocate Brittany Higgins.
What makes Silenced particularly effective is that it doesn’t simply present these women as headlines. It is interested in the human cost behind those headlines.
The Brittany Higgins section was the part that affected me the most.
As an Australian, there is something particularly confronting about seeing Higgins’ experiences placed within this much bigger international conversation. We’ve followed the headlines, the political fallout and the public debate, but Silenced strips away some of that distance and reminds us that behind every headline is an actual person who has to live with the consequences long after the news cycle has moved on.
There is a deeply emotional moment involving Higgins and Amber Heard that captures something the film understands very well: sometimes the most powerful form of solidarity is simply knowing that somebody else understands what you’ve been through.
This isn’t an easy film to watch, nor should it be. It is angry, upsetting and at times genuinely heartbreaking, but there is also an element of hope running through it. The film isn’t simply about what has gone wrong; it is about the people continuing to fight to make things better.
Silenced is ultimately about much more than individual cases. It is about what happens when society tells people they should speak up, only to punish them when they actually do. The film asks us to listen — properly listen — to the people who have taken that incredibly difficult step.
And after watching Silenced, it’s difficult to walk away without feeling that we still have a very long way to go.
National Release Date: September 3, 2026
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