2025 Student Academy Award Winners Series Part 7: Confession

Confession, dir. Rebeka Bizubová

Documentaries have the formal capacity of emanating truth and reality. Hence, the possibilities are infinite. An example of the limitless power of the medium is Spoved' (Confession) by Rebeka Bizubová. The Slovak director portrays her personal story of a sexual assault that happened a few years ago and still echoes loudly in her mind. The director analyzes her personal pain in two different scenarios: confessing to her best friend and confessing to the priest who assaulted her. Yet, Bizubová utilizes the possibilities of documentary to create a powerful tale of understanding and overcoming her trauma. 

The young Slovak director uses the format to encompass a highly personal and raw topic. Contrary to other documentaries that approach assault, particularly in the context of the Catholic church, Bizubová’s approach is direct as she looks at the screen and says that a priest assaulted her at a catholic festival. Firstly, she creates a sense of proximity between herself and the church through childhood pictures. In the following sequence, on a hike, she opens up about the situation with her best friend. The audience is at the same level as her friend, hearing for the first time about exactly what happened on that day at the festival. The director, who is also the subject, demonstrates her trauma and the wounds left by that event. 

Bizubová delivers a sequence of breathtaking moments in her film. The first one is a physical construction of lines and sheets around trees, symbolizing the tent, the decoration of that festival and the general sentiment of her abuse. She observes the threads around the trees as the camera collages views of the skies, which form a circle with the tree tops. However, the pinnacle and heartbreaking scene is yet to come. Bizubová hides a mic in her pocket and records a confession with her abuser, where she reveals to the priest who she is and why she is there. In this confrontation, the priest attempts to avoid assuming the guilt for her abuse, but fails. The director paints a black canvas on the screen, where the conversation appears, and the rawness in the audio is enough to evoke intense emotion from the audience. 

Ultimately, the student of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava creates an unforgettable piece of therapeutic art. Bizubová screams out the pain she shelved for five years and delivers a confession, not hers, but from her abuser, who, through the confrontation, acknowledges his misconduct. Thus, the film is a memorable example of documentary filmmaking that seeks to expose and elicit a response to the wrongdoings of someone in a position of power in society. 

Review by: Pedro Lima