Marisa Sistach Peret

"I believe that women have to invent, in our field of work, a new language that will be nourished by the common experiences of our individual histories. This woman’s word should be inscribed in our culture. To destroy the false mirror of woman that is, in general, the cinema. . . . It means reappropriating our image and in doing so, seeking our identity."

"Sistach portrays protagonists who have less agency because they are young, female, and working class— these factors affect their ability to 'resist, negotiate and transform' external forces of power. These three factors— age, gender, and socioeconomic class— combine in such a way that the young women have little recourse to justice after the violence they experience. In other words, they are powerless to affect change in the institutional structures that overlook or perpetuate this violence."

According to Rashkin, Sistach's Los pasos de Ana (1990), along with Busi Cortés' El secreto de Romeila (1988) were the two most popular feature films directed by Mexican women of their time. Her films were described by critics as innovative as they opened doors and created opportunities for women in cinema and film production. Perfume de Violeta was awarded three Ariels, won over twenty prizes on the international film festival sphere, and was Mexico's official choice for the Academy Awards.

Her first film was short live-action piece ¿Y si Platicamos de Agosto? in 1980, for which she won an Ariel (Mexican Academy Award). Other films she has directed include Perfume de violetas (2001), El cometa (1999), Anoche soñé contigo (1992), Los pasos de Ana (1990), La niña en la piedra (2006) and Los Crímenes de Mar del Norte (2017).

Marisa Sistach (né Marysa Sistach Peret, born September 10, 1952) is a Mexican film director. Her films address themes of femininity and women's issues.

Peret was born on September 10, 1952, in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. She attended and graduated from el Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica in Mexico City, a film school founded by Mexico's National Council for Culture and Arts. According to Elissa Rashkin, Sistach was among a movement in the late 1980s of innovative female directors in Mexican cinematic history, along with Maria Novaro, Busi Cortés, Guita Schyfter, and Dana Rotberg. This movement was described as being "coming to terms with the past (with the past in images, with the past in the history of the country), the acknowledgement of one’s own sensitivity (romanticism recovered in a feminist way), and the emergence of magic realism as denaturalization of women’s world, as a way of making representation visible."