Yes Studios, the Israeli producer and distributor behind “Fauda” and “Shtisel,” has boarded “Unsilenced,” a six-part series about sexual violence which is inspired by Odelia Carmon’s novel “The Confidante.”
The multi-layered series stars Yaakov Zada Daniel (“Fauda”), Avraham Shalom Levi (“Shtisel”), Nelly Mira Rubin (“Fire Dance”), Dana Meinrath and Irit Nathan Benedek.
Loosely inspired by actual events, “Unsilenced” is set pre-#MeToo, in the early 2000’s, when powerful men could readily mask and perpetuate abhorrent behaviors with the help of people they installed around themselves.
The story revolves around a recently elected President who continually forces himself upon a new member of his team, a bright and ambitious young woman from a humble background. Desperate to keep her job, she asks the President’s chief of staff for help, but he shows his complicity with the situation by first looking the other way and then, as things escalate, by engineering a brutal campaign to discredit her and keep her quiet. Refusing to be silenced for being a victim, she bravely pursues her claims of abuse, and is eventually joined by other women that the President had attacked as he rose through the political ranks.
Each of the first five episodes is told from a different point of view: two from individual victims, then one each from the President’s chief of staff, his wife, and the President himself. The final episode brings all their stories together in a potent resolution.
“Unsilenced” was created by Avraham Shalom Levi, Tamar Marom, Moish Goldberg and Einat Zilber Damari, with Carmon as co-creator. The series was written by Avraham Shalom Levi and Tamar Marom, directed by Moish Goldberg and produced by Great Productions and yes TV. Yes Studios handles worldwide distribution for the completed series and the scripted format.
“Impactful stories like the one so skilfully captured in “Unsilenced” have driven female empowerment and encouraged women to use their voices against those who exploit positions of power,” said Sharon Levi, managing director of Yes Studios. Levi says the lead character, operating in the pre-#metoo era, “was a pioneer and while we also hear points of view from several finely drawn and complex characters in this series – including from the President himself – there is, in reality, only one truth.”
The executive says she’s confident the show’s main story arc and different perspectives in each episode will “provoke discussion amongst audiences everywhere.”
While “Unsilenced” was inspired true events, characters and the events portrayed in the series have been fictionalized for dramatic purposes.
