HFC at SXSW '24: My Sextortion Diary
Sextortion: extortion in which a perpetrator threatens to expose sexually compromising information (such as sexually explicit private images or videos of the victim) unless they meet certain demands. A crime that in the 20th century is far too prevalent even if it goes unnoticed by most. It’s broad and victims are caught between paying and meeting the demands or letting the situation play out, for better or for worse. The people who do this hold information when the payment is met, and the people who are being extorted don’t get an easy night’s sleep afterward.
My Sextortion Diary is the latest film from documentarian Patricia Franquesa. While on a business trip in Spain, Patricia decides to get lunch with an ex-partner, and while at the cafe a coordinated group of individuals manage to steal her laptop. After going through the laptop they find revealing images of her and threaten to send them to her professional colleagues, friends, and family if she doesn’t pay them $2,400 USD in bitcoin. Her fears quickly turn to reality when the group begins to make good on their threats.
Told exclusively through iPhone footage, laptop cameras, and text exchanges, the documentary plays out more like a thriller more akin to films like Missing, Searching, and UnFriended than the traditional talking head documentary. In a way, this helps draw the viewer in rather than just being told how horrifying the event was. We see the lighthearted text exchanges, the restless nights worrying if the extortionists actually mean what they say, and the stress of having to continue on with your work as if nothing is actively happening. Scenes of the mundane, everyday things you quickly capture on a walk around the neighborhood, are intercut with court paperwork about the case offer a sense of whiplash that puts you in her shoes. When she’s stressed, you’re stressed. When she feels playful, you also feel playful. It can also feel somewhat intrusive. Why do we get to see the little things that happen in her day while the world is slowly crashing down around her? We get to empathize with her, while also being a fly on the wall into someone’s life that we as viewers barely know. We watch the paranoia from the perspective of both the documentarian and the extortionist. A very clever and genius way to convey the scope of emotions within the documentary, that we haven’t seen too many others try to tackle. It’s also this form of storytelling that doesn’t allow the film to overstay its welcome, coming in at a tight hour. My Sextortion Diary is always engaging and finds a way to keep the narrative moving despite its unconventional approach.
While some documentaries don’t typically strive for this level of bravery, this one does. Putting oneself out there in this capacity is difficult, and sure the question of how brave can one be when in an uncontrollable situation does come into play, but the subversion of showing all the highs and lows of your life is powerful. It’s told with a certain brutal honesty that serves as cautionary tale and a reminder that this could happen to anyone at any given moment. In a time where websites like OnlyFans and Fansly allow people to take control of their narrative and their bodies online, it could all go wrong when the wrong people get their hands on that vulnerability. An emotionally heavy weight can be put on anyone when someone has their hands on these types of images, and the fact that the film tackles that is important.
In speaking with the filmmaker, I discovered that this process wasn’t over. An unfortunate reality, but hopeful in the idea that progress was being made in it. For so many people, this process will never end and the more that technology becomes intertwined into our daily lives, this is just an issue that we have to deal with and fear. Maybe the film can inspire more people to take control and stop fearing their bodies so that wrongdoers won't have so much power in using these things, but that also opens up larger societal questions about how we view our bodies and our sexuality. We shouldn’t have to deal with it as we move forward, but My Sextortion Diary shows that when you control the narrative it can only get as big as you let it.
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Blake Williams has a B.A. in Film and Television Production from Ball State University. He aspires to one day be a director, but until that day comes you can find him at a showing of whatever's playing that day or at home alphabetizing a shelf of movies and games and muttering about how he should "slow down on spending."