In the year 2000, Maixabel Lasa's husband, Juan María Jaúregui, was killed by the ETA, a Basque separatist group. Eleven years later, she received an incredible request: one of the killers wants to meet with her from his Spanish prison, where he is serving his sentence after breaking ties with the terrorist group.
Despite her reservations and immense pain, Maixabel agreed to meet face to face with those who murdered her lifelong companion and father of their daughter. When asked why, she explained "Everyone deserves a second chance." Her story of these restorative encounters is brought to life in this new film that explores the human cost of violence for those that suffer and those who cause it.

With extraordinary writing and performances of humbling intensity and integrity, Maixabel expands to become an emblematic war story, specific to its time and place but human in scope. You don't need to have heard of ETA to recognize fear, repression, hatred or guilt. You don't have to be Basque to recognize these people, the killers and their victims both broken by the terrible things they have known. War is hell and a special sort of personal and collective will is required for resolution. D: Icíar Bollaín, Spain, subtitled, 2021

A conversation with Maixabel Lasa follows.

Programmed in conjunction with the conference "Unspeakable Truths: Political Violence, Gender, and Reconciliation" hosted by the Department of Spanish and Portuguese.