by Dov Kornits
“For me, every film is personal,” says American filmmaker Marfisia Bel. “I believe your worldview, experiences and personality inform and underscore the choices you make, regardless of if you are conscious of it or not. This is one of my favourite aspects of filmmaking.
“I was inspired to write the script after I discovered the man who took advantage of me in my youth had a daughter. This made me wonder if this person now had a different outlook on his actions. To me, the film is a subversion of the rape-revenge genre that, instead of focusing on violence against the perpetrator, explores the psychology of the person who experienced that act.”
What films specifically was Marfisia Bel subverting?
“Some of my favourites are the quintessential originals Ms.45 (1981) [aka Angel of Vengeance] and I Spit On Your Grave (1978). I also love Revenge (2017), which is an excellent homage to classic exploitation films of this genre. These films are violent, bloody, loud. That’s The Password In Town is, of course, a much different film. I was interested in exploring what this rage looks like when it’s focused inward instead of outward. I wanted the narrative to center around Sara’s [played by Sharar Ali-Speakes] transformation over a violent retribution — even though the film is set up to lead audiences to this conclusion. I also loved the idea of setting up a gun in the first act that doesn’t in fact end up going off in the last.”
Something else that doesn’t quite unload in the film is its title…
“Around the time I was writing the script for That’s The Password In Town, I was reading a book of poetry by Japanese poet Kazuko Shiraishi. ‘[And] that’s the password in this town…’ was a line in one of the poems. I couldn’t get it out of my head. In the film, Sara lives in a small town — the kind of town that many teenagers, including Sara, dream of escaping from. In Sara’s case, what happened to her there binds her to the town in a way. Escape for her is not as simple as growing up and moving away. By the end of the film Sara finds this strength within herself, and this is exactly the ‘password’ she has been missing. When the script was finished, the line ‘That’s the password in this town’ was still stubbornly at the forefront of my mind, so it became obvious that it was the title of the film.”
Following a festival run, That’s the Password In Town has been released online to coincide with Sexual Assault Awareness Month. “Hopefully this is a good moment to be part of larger cultural conversations happening at this time,” says the filmmaker.
And what’s next? “I’m currently putting the finishing touches on a feature script I have been writing that I’m very excited about. I’m working on a short film I plan to shoot this summer… and hoping I’ll have time to shoot a second one!”
