Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, the co-directors of the documentary The Hunting Ground, are turning their camera towards the ongoing Hollywood sexual abuse scandal sparked when numerous women coming forth alleging that producer Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted them over a period of decades. Since those initial revelations, numerous other accusations have been leveled at other studio heads and others in positions of power. This past weekend, the Los Angeles Times published a story in which some thirty-six women came for stating that they were assaulted by director James Toback.
Dick and Ziering’s 2015 documentary The Hunting Ground looked at the epidemic of college campus rape and the culture of silence among school administrations. Ziering was a writer on Dick’s 2012 documentary The Invisible War, which looked at sexual assault in the military.
In a press release announcing the project, Ziering stated that they had begun working on the documentary while finishing work on The Hunting Ground.
Every time we screened [The Hunting Ground] in Hollywood, actors and executives would come up to us and say that they had had similar experiences right here. So, we began working on this project and immediately found ourselves grappling with the same forces that had kept this story silenced for so long. Everyone was frightened about what would happen to their careers, and worried about whether they would be sued. Distributors were unwilling to fund or release the film, and few people were willing to talk on the record. Then the Weinstein stories broke, and it’s like an invisible dam collapsed.
Dick adds –
What our film will capture, especially at this pivotal turning point in Hollywood history, is the underlying current of abuse and manipulation at the hands of power. Our film will also underscore the courage it takes to come forward and be a catalyst for change.
No distribution or release date has been set for the as-yet-untitled film.
