May Your Will Be Done

(Hágase tu voluntad)

Adrián Silvestre / Spain / 2024 / 98 min
May Your Will Be Done May Your Will Be Done May Your Will Be Done May Your Will Be Done
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  • Docs Barcelona

    Jury Prize

  • Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival

  • Som Cinema

    Best Documentary Film Award
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Spanish with English subtitles

Ricardo, known for his carefree and hedonistic lifestyle, sees his world collapse when he loses his partner and suffers two debilitating strokes, leaving him partially paralyzed and profoundly depressed. Alone and nearly blind, he contemplates ending his life. Convinced that euthanasia is his rightful choice, he sets out to fulfill one last wish: reuniting with his estranged sons after more than twenty years.

Adrián Silvestre, the film’s director and Ricardo’s youngest son, embarks on an emotional journey toward forgiveness, acceptance, and potential reconciliation. Through deeply personal, observational cinema infused with moments of humor and tenderness, May Your Will be Done traces the emotional architecture of family bonds, strained and defended across time.

This poignant work explores the complexities of parent-child relationships, examining themes of redemption, reconciliation, and the fundamental human right to make end-of-life decisions. It also serves as a meditation on euthanasia as a form of self-determination, situating itself within broader European discourses on dignified death.

Adrián Silvestre’s choice to document his father’s decline and final wish invites critical reflection on the ethics of familial intimacy and the role of the filmmaker in observational documentary practice.

Press

“Adrián Silvestre returns to his birthplace after years away in order to reunite with his father, who is yearning for a swift, dignified death.” – Alfonso Rivera, Cineuropa

About the Director

Adrián Silvestre is a film director whose work explores the limits between reality and fiction, placing professional actresses alongside real people in his scenes.

Adrian Silvestre - My Emptiness and I - Sediments

Available for Q&As, Masterclasses, and workshops upon request, in English or Spanish.
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Silvestre approaches art practice from the analysis of everyday experiences. His films tend to be preceded by a process of close collaboration with specific communities where the gender perspective is transversally implemented and the empowerment of the participants is fostered.

His first feature film, The Objects of Love (2016), has received numerous international awards, such as FIPRESCI (SEFF).

Sediments (Sedimentos, 2021), his second feature film, won the Feroz Award for best national nonfiction film, presented at BFI London FF, San Sebastian FF, Thessaloniki Documentary FF (Special Jury Prize), Malaga Film Festival, Gottembourg FF, Cinespaña Toulouse (Best Documentary), Outfest Los Angeles (Grand Jury Special Mention), and Newfest NY, among others.

After its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, My Emptiness and I (Mi vacío y yo, 2022) won the Silver Biznaga, Special Jury Prize at the Malaga Film Festival, and Premio Maguey / Best Film at the Guadalajara International Film Festival, among other prizes.

Silvestre premiered May Your Will be Done (Hágase tu voluntad), his fourth feature film, at the Thessaloniki Film Festival and DocsBarcelona in 2024.

Notes on Film

“Although it remains taboo for our society, death is a universal fact to which we are all inevitably exposed. The trigger for the project was my desire to explore how we, as a society, address this conflict, and how we journey not only towards the acceptance of our own death but also towards the legitimization of others’ desire to die.

After extensive research in which I sought different life stories close to this experience, I realized that the most impactful and potentially filmable story was happening right in front of me; my father had been wanting to bid us farewell for a while, with neither my brother nor I realizing that was the case. Proposing such a deeply personal project to my producers was something that had never crossed my mind. I had never stood in front of a camera, and I hadn’t consciously thought about my father for over twenty years. But as I immersed myself in his journey, all the ingredients I was looking for fell into place. In the end, it was about portraying my life and that of the people I know best: my own family.

This privileged place of knowledge and security allowed me to broaden the focus of the documentary and explore more complex issues: family relationships, caregiving, attachments (and detachments), distance, survival… And above all: questioning not only what it means to live with dignity but also speaking freely about the meaning of parenthood, forgiveness, empathy, the possibility of rebuilding ties…

I have tried to offer the audience both an exciting and honest proposal that appeals to universal emotions and avoids sentimentality or moral high ground. A story that seems sad but is loaded with a sense of humor (and fantasy!). The same main virtues that I have rediscovered in my newly found father, the man that life and cinema have brought back to me.”

– Adrián Silvestre, Director

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