Director's Statement
When I was 17, I was groomed into a sexual relationship by my favorite teacher. At the time,
it felt like love. Now, after more than a decade of questioning myself, my judgment, and my
worth, I question the man I thought I knew. How could he (and the many others like him) do
those things to a child? How did he rationalize his actions, and what would happen if I ran
into him now? He was my teacher, my lover, my mentor, my friend, and my abuser. If I saw
him again, who would I see looking back at me?
If I saw him again, would he still get to decide our story?
DELIBERATE is my fantasy of a rematch between me and my abuser that will never happen,
and that I would never win. It is a story about the fight for control, the illusion of power, and
the desperate need to escape one’s demons. It challenges viewers to consider questions
like the ones I had to navigate as a survivor of abuse:
• What can you trust when you can’t trust yourself?
• Is control an illusion? What is the cost of believing in that illusion?
• What is justice?
Ultimately, the film offers no easy answers. Instead, DELIBERATE compels the audience to
consider these questions long after the credits roll. Through placing the audience in the
perspective of a survivor, DELIBERATE shows that the only way to move on from a traumatic
past is to choose to leave it behind you.
Marta Roncada (Director, Writer, Producer)
Marta Roncada (Director, Writer, Producer) is an award-winning writer/director and founder of the production company WHOLE PICTURES. Brazilian, Italian, and first-generation American, Marta gravitates to stories centered around female characters facing imbalanced power dynamics. Credits include DELIBERATE (Dances With Films), STAGES (Outshine Festivals), and the upcoming THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE BEAUTY.
Director's Statement
When I was 17, I was groomed into a sexual relationship by my favorite teacher. At the time,
it felt like love. Now, after more than a decade of questioning myself, my judgment, and my
worth, I question the man I thought I knew. How could he (and the many others like him) do
those things to a child? How did he rationalize his actions, and what would happen if I ran
into him now? He was my teacher, my lover, my mentor, my friend, and my abuser. If I saw
him again, who would I see looking back at me?
If I saw him again, would he still get to decide our story?
DELIBERATE is my fantasy of a rematch between me and my abuser that will never happen,
and that I would never win. It is a story about the fight for control, the illusion of power, and
the desperate need to escape one’s demons. It challenges viewers to consider questions
like the ones I had to navigate as a survivor of abuse:
• What can you trust when you can’t trust yourself?
• Is control an illusion? What is the cost of believing in that illusion?
• What is justice?
Ultimately, the film offers no easy answers. Instead, DELIBERATE compels the audience to
consider these questions long after the credits roll. Through placing the audience in the
perspective of a survivor, DELIBERATE shows that the only way to move on from a traumatic
past is to choose to leave it behind you.
Marta Roncada (Director, Writer, Producer)
Marta Roncada (Director, Writer, Producer) is an award-winning writer/director and founder of the production company WHOLE PICTURES. Brazilian, Italian, and first-generation American, Marta gravitates to stories centered around female characters facing imbalanced power dynamics. Credits include DELIBERATE (Dances With Films), STAGES (Outshine Festivals), and the upcoming THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE BEAUTY.
