The Hunting Ground
Synopsis
From the Academy Award-nominated filmmaking team behind THE INVISIBLE WAR, comes a startling exposé of rape crimes on U.S. campuses, institutional cover-ups and the brutal social toll on victims and their families. Weaving together verité footage and first-person testimonies, the film follows survivors as they pursue their education while fighting for justice — despite harsh retaliation, harassment and pushback at every level.
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The Filmmakers
Kirby Dick Writer/Director
Kirby Dick is an Academy Award®-nominated and two-time Emmy Award®-winning documentary film director. His most recent feature, THE INVISIBLE WAR, a groundbreaking investigation into the epidemic of rape within the U.S. military, won 2014 Emmy Awards for Best Documentary and Outstanding Investigative Journalism, Long Form; a 2013 Peabody Award; and the 2012 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award. It was also nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature.
Dick's prior film, OUTRAGE, an indictment of the hypocrisy of powerful, closeted politicians and the institutions that protect them, was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Investigative Journalism. In 2006 he directed THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED, a breakthrough investigation of the highly secretive film-ratings system that compelled the MPAA to make long-overdue changes. In 2004, he directed TWIST OF FAITH, the story of a man confronting the trauma of his past sexual abuse by a Catholic priest, which received an Oscar® nomination for Best Documentary Feature.
Dick's other films include DERRIDA, a complex portrait of the world-renowned French philosopher Jacques Derrida, which won the Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco Film Festival, and the internationally acclaimed SICK: THE LIFE & DEATH OF BOB FLANAGAN, SUPERMASOCHIST, which won the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and the Grand Prize at the Los Angeles Film Festival.
Amy Ziering Producer
Amy Ziering is an Academy Award-nominated and two-time Emmy Award®-winning documentary filmmaker. Her most recent film, THE INVISIBLE WAR, a groundbreaking investigation into the epidemic of rape in the U.S. military, won the Audience Award at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, the 2012 Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary, the 2014 Emmy Awards for Best Documentary and Outstanding Investigative Journalism, Long Form, and was nominated for an Oscar.
Released by Cinedigm/Documara and broadcast on PBS, THE INVISIBLE WAR led Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta to announce significant policy changes, inspired Senator Kirsten Gillibrand to coauthor and push for the passage of the Military Justice Improvement Act (MJIA), and was the catalyst for the drafting and passing of 35 additional new Congressional reforms.
Her previous film, OUTRAGE, for which she received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Investigative Journalism, is a searing indictment of the hypocrisy of powerful, closeted politicians and the institutions that protect them. It was distributed by Magnolia Pictures and had its television premiere on HBO.
Ziering also produced THE MEMORY THIEF, starring Mark Webber, Rachel Miner and Jerry Adler, a thought-provoking examination of the relationship between empathy, narcissism and trauma. It was a New York Times Critics' Pick and won several festival awards. Prior to this, she co-directed and produced DERRIDA, a documentary about the world-renowned French philosopher Jacques Derrida and the philosophy movement known as deconstruction. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, won the Golden Gate award at the San Francisco Film Festival, was released theatrically by Zeitgeist Films and features an original score by Oscar-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto.
The first film Ziering produced was writer-director Richard Cohen's critically acclaimed documentary TAYLOR’S CAMPAIGN, about Ron Taylor, a homeless man who ran for a seat on the Santa Monica City Council.
Ziering is the 2012 recipient of the Nestor Almendros Prize for Courage in Filmmaking, the 2013 Ridenhour Documentary Film Prize, the 2013 Gracie Award for Outstanding Producer - News/Non-Fiction, the 2013 Peabody Award, the 2014 ABA Silver Gavel Award for Television, the 2014 Media Impact Henry Hampton Award for Excellence in Film and Digital Media, and two 2014 News Emmys. Ziering is currently in production on new projects for HBO, CNN and The Weinstein Company.
Festivals & Awards
Producer's Guild of America 2015
Winner, Stanley Kramer Award, Nominee, Best Documentary
Academy Awards 2015
Nominee, Best Original Song
Reviews
“Any parent sending a child off to college should consider this required viewing.”
-New York Magazine
“An incendiary, shocking, infuriating masterpiece.”
-RogerEbert.com
“A must-watch work…Goes right for the gut.”
-New York Times
“Triumphant…A stirring call to action.”
-Indiewire
Outreach
Campus sexual assault is an outrage that has been tolerated, denied and effectively condoned by universities for decades. We are a coalition of survivors, students, alumni, parents, educators, activists and supporters who refuse to accept the status quo.
Our mission is to end sexual assault on college campuses. We will achieve this goal by working with, pressuring and legislating colleges and universities to adopt best practices.
These include:
- Biennial Campus Climate Surveys with results made public
- Uniform, prompt, fair and thorough adjudications for all students, including student athletes
- Confidential advisors for survivors
- Amnesty from alcohol/drug use charges in sexual violence cases
- Anonymous reporting options
- Use investigators with specialized training
- Alert students that they have the right to seek outside help, including law enforcement, but are not obligated to do so
The culture of rape on campus is horrifyingly normal and yet secret, neatly tucked away behind red brick walls and school crests. Twenty percent of women in college will be assaulted. Many of those crimes will go unreported. Those that are reported often don’t lead to sufficient penalties and are denied or suppressed in the interest of school recruiting and brand polishing. It’s intolerable and we don’t tolerate it.
Sexual assault is a crime. We need to start treating it that way. Gender equality on campus is the law. We need to enforce it.
By joining forces and pressuring our academic and elected leaders, we will put a stop to the enduring evil of sexual assault.
Outreach Resources
See Act Stop
Get the facts. Take action to stop sexual assault on college campuses.
Action Toolkit
This toolkit empowers key audiences—students, parents, alumni, faculty, advisors and administrators—with ways to participate. We urge you to speak up. Take action. Be resolute in the pursuit of justice.
Parents Guide
This guide includes information and resources for parents and your family to think through, discuss and take appropriate actions in three sections: 1) prevention, 2) holding institutions and perpetrators accountable, and 3) supporting survivors.