Writing in Liechtenstein: My Artistic Residency at the Turmhaus in Balzers
The silence I needed to write Women of Ice.
Maria Caminal
5 min read
For seven weeks, I lived in a medieval tower surrounded by nature, tranquillity and silence. With one responsibility: to write.
I arrived in Balzers, Liechtenstein, with the story of Women of Ice firmly in my mind. I knew its characters, had researched the film’s world and had a clear idea of the structure I wanted to build. Yet I still needed something that can be difficult to find in everyday life: uninterrupted time, space and silence.
The artistic residency at the Turmhaus gave me exactly that. It was more than a place where I could add pages to the screenplay. It was a pause, a change of pace and, above all, a turning point in the development of my first feature film.
Seven weeks. One screenplay
A change of pace
The landscape, the silence and the slower rhythm felt familiar because they reminded me of Andorra, but the change of context made me observe the world differently. The Turmhaus, my home and workspace during those weeks, was a place filled with history and silence.
Leaving my routine behind transformed my relationship with time and gave me greater freedom as an artist. My days were full of possibilities to explore the world I wanted to put on paper after months of in-depth research. Sometimes I wrote for eight or nine hours; on other days, I needed to walk, read or let a scene mature before returning to it.
The origin of the story
The evolution: from a structure to 150 pages
From childhood, through adolescence and into adulthood, I have felt an increasingly profound connection with female sensibility and with the ways women observe, feel and inhabit the world.
As a screenwriter and director, I embrace that sensibility as a fundamental tool in my work. It allows me to pause over details, approach stories with empathy and experience my own life in a deeply sensory way. It also pushes me to look where, all too often, society would rather turn away.
Growing up as a woman in today’s society means constantly confronting questions about the kind of woman we are expected to be. We learn to live with certain beauty standards—ever-changing and often unattainable—and with explicit or implicit rules about how we should behave, express ourselves and relate to our own bodies and surroundings.
When I decided to enter the film industry, I understood that before telling a story, I needed to know what I wanted to talk about. That search would eventually give rise to Women of Ice, my first feature film.
My personal experiences and the constant stream of news about injustices committed against women ultimately revealed the story I needed to tell: the trafficking of women for sexual exploitation.
This reality, fuelled by abuse of power, objectification and silence, traps women and girls within a system that forces them to behave, perform and please clients who pay to exploit them, while keeping them confined and, in many cases, without identity documents.
Women of Ice was born from that observation, but also from a deeply personal place. As an artist and as a woman who has experienced abuse, I felt a profound empathy for them and a need to transform part of that sensibility into a story capable of opening a conversation with audiences.
Before travelling, I had already completed a significant part of the research and preparation. During the residency, I was able to bring all that material together and turn it into a solid dramatic structure.
I began with the protagonist’s emotional journey: her departure from the world she knows, her entry into a completely different reality and the challenges that force her to transform. I then developed the subplots and relationships between the characters, ensuring that each one added depth to the central conflict.
By the end of the seven weeks, I had completed a first draft of approximately 150 pages, although the final dialogue still needed to be written.
Reaching that number did not mean the film was finished. A first screenplay is a living body: it needs distance, rewriting and difficult decisions. But it did mean something essential. The story now existed from beginning to end, and I could begin working on the dialogue in depth.
An exchange between Andorra and Liechtenstein
If I had to sum up my time in Liechtenstein in three words, they would be tranquillity, connection and growth.
Tranquillity to stop after spending so long rushing through life. Connection to listen once again to the story I carried within me. And growth because, as the screenplay found its shape, something in me was changing too.
During those weeks, I realised how much I needed that space. Not only to write, but also to listen to myself, observe myself and remember why I had started creating in the first place.
Sometimes we care for our projects with absolute devotion and, without realising it, leave ourselves until later. This experience reminded me that giving time to what we love also means learning to give that same time to ourselves.
Perhaps you also have something that has been waiting for a while. A project, an idea or a part of yourself. I hope you find the space to listen to it.
My stay was part of an artistic exchange programme between Andorra and Liechtenstein, promoted within the framework of cultural diplomacy. Initiatives like this allow artists to work outside their usual context, build international connections and bring visibility to projects born in small countries.
I would like to thank the Government of Andorra for its support and for placing its trust in my work, and Liechtenstein’s Office of Cultural Affairs for the warm welcome, kindness and care I received throughout my stay. I am also grateful to everyone who accompanied me, both near and far, and who, in different ways, made it possible for me to devote those weeks entirely to the film.
I left Balzers with a first draft, many notes for the next version and the certainty that Women of Ice had finally found its shape.
Now, a new stage begins.
What Liechtenstein taught me
The journey of Women of Ice continues
My goal is to bring this story to the big screen. Although the project was born in Andorra, it addresses a reality that crosses borders and has a clear international dimension. I want to continue developing it alongside people and organisations that share this vision: cinema committed to social impact, yet grounded in the humanity and complexity of its characters and in the collective strength of women.
On social media, I have shared a series of videos about arriving at the Turmhaus, the origin of the film, the creative process and everything the residency gave me. You can follow the journey of Women of Ice on Instagram.
If you represent a production company, festival, residency programme or cultural institution and would like to learn more about the project, you can contact me at contact@mariacaminal.com.
With warmth,
Maria Caminal
