Nov 21, 2015 Watching 'The Hunting Ground' is not going to end violence, but education and awareness is a necessary step. From the Oscar-nominated filmmakers behind THE INVISIBLE WAR comes THE HUNTING GROUND, a new documentary about the epidemic of sexual assault on US college c.
Winston, the Florida State University quarterback, is the focus of one of the film’s more incendiary segments. The Heisman Trophy winner in 2013, he was accused in 2012 of sexual assault by a female student. He has asserted his innocence, did not face criminal charges and was recently by the university. He is widely expected to be among the first several players chosen in this spring’s N.F.L. But “The Hunting Ground,” directed by Kirby Dick, makes a mockery of Florida State’s investigation, and Mr.
Winston’s accuser, Erica Kinsman, publicly about the case for the first time in the film, at length. Boxer was joined on the panel here on Saturday by Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand, Democrat of New York. Both intended to curb the startling number of sexual assaults on college campuses. The measure would require schools to make public the result of anonymous surveys concerning assaults, and would impose significant financial burdens on universities that fail to comply with some of the law’s requirements.
In the near term, severe public shaming will arrive via Mr. Dick’s film, which mentions dozens of schools by name and focuses on six.
“The Hunting Ground” will be released in theaters on March 20 by Radius-TWC, a division of the Weinstein Company, which is known for stirring controversy to support film releases. “The Hunting Ground” poster resembles an ad for a horror movie. Advertisement “We’re not afraid,” Jeff Zucker, president of CNN Worldwide, said after the panel, when asked about a potentially forceful response from higher education officials to “The Hunting Ground.” “They’re on the wrong side.” CNN has not revealed an air date except to say that it will run the film by the end of the year. A spokeswoman for the United States Department of Education did not respond to a query on Sunday. Dick and his producing partner, Amy Ziering, are known for their documentary “The Invisible War,” which put a spotlight on rape in the United States military and was nominated for best documentary at the 2013 Academy Awards. The Department of Education, according to Mr. Dick’s film, is investigating 90 colleges for their handling of sexual assault complaints.
Boxer, citing urgency created by “The Hunting Ground,” vowed to meet with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan “immediately, next week” during her panel remarks. She said she planned to say, “You guys, get out ahead of this, because this is going to come back to your door after everyone sees this film.” Underscoring the degree to which media scrutiny of campus rape can provoke swift and severe pushback, Rolling Stone in November was from a provocative article focused on accusations of a gang rape at the University of Virginia. The magazine acknowledged that it had erred in relying solely on the word of the accuser, named only as Jackie, and did not try to contact the men she accused. The president of Trinity Washington University, Patricia A.
McGuire, appears briefly in the film discussing the topic. Dick said on Saturday that many other schools, including the six at the center of the documentary, had been given the opportunity to be interviewed and declined. Correction: January 29, 2015 An article on Monday about the documentary “The Hunting Ground,” about sexual assaults on campuses, referred incorrectly to the participation of college administrators in the film. McGuire, the president of Trinity Washington University in Washington, D.C., appeared briefly on camera.
It is not the case that no senior university officials appeared. In addition, the article, using information from the filmmakers, referred imprecisely to the willingness of other schools to be interviewed.
Though the filmmakers said that the six schools at the center of the film and more than 35 others had declined to participate, they did not mention that the president of at least one, Amherst College, agreed to be interviewed. That footage was not included in the documentary.