On Friday the 7th of November, Anna Petrus read her thesis "LA MIRADA QUE ABRAÇA. L’estètica de l’empatia com a forma de resistència cinematogràfica a la cultura de la violació" at the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, getting an excelent qualification and a cum laude mention. The thsesis had been co-directed by Laura García Pousa and Pilar Medina-Bravo.

Abstract: This research arises from the need to reassess the representation of rape in Western cinema considering the new collective awareness sparked by the #MeToo movement and with the aim of identifying signs of resistance—not only in overtly feminist films but also in the more challenging contexts of films that adhere to the dominant patriarchal discourse. To achieve this, I explore the contradictory nature of the relationship between ethics and aesthetics and their potential to open a wound within the cinematic experience, one that invites an empathetic and compassionate gaze toward the victims of sexual violence represented on screen. Among the aesthetic choices that make this possible, I examine the wounds revealed through the faces of silent witnesses, the deliberate omission of violence, and the traces that rape leaves on the bodies of victims—ultimately leading me to propose the possibility of an aesthetics of empathy as a form of cinematic resistance to rape culture.