Survivor's Decade-Long Fight for Justice Inspires Intimate, Visually Striking Film

In 2025, filmmaker María Silvia Esteve is premiering her documentary "Mailin" at the IDFA film festival. The film is the result of an 8-year journey to gain the trust of Mailin Gobbo, a woman who had been sexually abused by a local priest for years.

Esteve first saw Mailin crying on television in 2016, as she recounted the abuse she suffered at the hands of the priest, a family friend named Carlos Eduardo José. Mailin was a key witness in the legal case against José, but he was ultimately cleared of all charges in 2021 due to Argentina's statute of limitations. Esteve felt compelled to help Mailin tell her story, recognizing the need for her voice to be truly heard.

The film blends courtroom footage, intimate testimonials from Mailin, and visually striking abstract sequences to portray the trauma of her experience. Esteve explains that the challenge was finding a form that could merge these diverse elements, ultimately deciding that the deforming, opening images mirrored the way trauma disrupts one's sense of the present.

The documentary also sheds light on the role the Catholic church and the judicial system played in protecting the accused priest. Despite Mailin's initial claims, the person in charge was the man who would eventually become Pope Francis. The church even continued to provide José with a salary and social security after the allegations surfaced.

Esteve's dedication to Mailin's story has been a long and emotionally taxing process, but one she felt compelled to undertake. The filmmaker hopes that "Mailin" will not only give a voice to survivors, but also expose the systemic failures that allow abusers to evade justice.