“It’s on us.”
These words have echoed through college campuses around the nation, after a campaign launch from the Obama administration.
The University of Oregon has embraced the message in full force, with the “It’s On Us/”Ducks Do Something” pledge – after the need to do so became evident in the last year.
But campaigns and pledges may only be able to do so much. Maybe people need to see it for their own eyes to truly understand the issue – at least that’s what filmmakers at CNN believe.
The international news station has partnered with The Weinstein Company’s Radius studio, and has announced that they will produce a film examining sex crimes on college campuses.
Sophomore Ali Cohen, a member of SWAT (Sexual Wellness Advocacy Team) agrees that the film may just be the extra push college students need.
“Yes, we have the It’s On Us campaign, and I think that is helping raise awareness, but if outsiders could really see just what a survivor has to go through daily after experiencing sexual violence it might emphasize how much we all need to care about this,” Cohen said.
“The statistics are staggering — our country has a moral obligation to address this issue. We hope our film will provide a wake-up call to our nation to better protect our students,” director Kirby Dick said in a statement about the film’s goals.
Dick will collaborate with producer Amy Ziering (both Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning for their first collaboration on the critically acclaimed film, The Invisible War) for what will most likely be another powerful work. The Invisible War unveiled the issue of sexual assault in the U.S. military and will likely make parallels to the new film.
The currently untitled film will highlight the personal stories of several sexual assault survivors. Some featured will reveal for the first time their story to friends and administrators as the documentary aims to depict how frequently these crimes go unreported.
“Hopefully the film would humanize everyone involved so anyone who sees it could really imagine what it would be like if their sister, best friend, boyfriend, cousin or themselves had to deal with sexual violence,” Cohen said. “College is supposed to be some of the best times of our lives and there are students that have to walk on the same campus as their perpetrator and somehow focus on their classes.”
While there is no set release date yet, the film is predicted to be released to theaters in 2015, and will appear as a CNN Film broadcast later that year.