The Second Skin

synopsis

Violence against women is a sensitive subject in itself, particularly in view of the psychological trauma suffered by the victims of these horrific acts. Nevertheless, three female filmmakers decide to make a radical artistic and civic gesture. Recordings of anonymous testimonies by rape survivors serve as the scripts for scenes in which the filmmakers reenact the assaults from the victims’ perspectives. With the perpetrators absent and the immersion growing increasingly intense, the staged experiences begin to bear a terrifying resemblance to the real ones. An experience that can neither be fully understood nor simulated speaks to us through the film’s participants in the language of visceral bodily reactions and genuine human emotions.

“It was always with me. The desire to break the silence.” — Mariia Lapidus, Rephrase Mag

Source

biography

Mariia Lapidus is a filmmaker, screenwriter and activist. She studied at the VGIK film school and California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), where she now teaches. Her short documentary The City of the Sun (2020) received a Special Mention at Visions du Réel, while her film The Second Skin (2026) won the Tiger Short Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.

film details

director:	Mariia Lapidus
cast:	Margo Shkalina, Lera Vetkhova, Mariia Lapidus
producer:	Mariia Lapidus
script:	Mariia Lapidus
photography:	Lera Vetkhova
editing:	Mariia Lapidus
co-producer:	Maria Alejandra Rojas, Arturo Salazar RB