My Sextortion Diary

When her laptop is stolen in a café, director Patricia Franquesa becomes the victim of digital extortion. An anonymous hacker threatens to send the explicit photos he has found to all her contacts if she refuses to pay him thousands of dollars.

Initially, the young filmmaker puts her trust in the authorities, but when it becomes apparent that they can’t really help her and she is the only one who can solve the problem, she makes a courageous decision.

Franquesa tells the detailed story of the developments and the perpetrator’s step-by-step strategy. Text and graphics show their chats and email exchanges, and photos and videos appear in split screen and in different formats.

The result is a dynamic story about the cat-and-mouse game in which she becomes entangled and the mechanisms of cybercrime. But even more, the film reveals the feelings of vulnerability and shame evoked by the loss of physical self-determination—and how to ultimately regain your autonomy.