W&M first college in US to screen 'The Hunting Ground'
On Friday, Feb. 20, at 6 p.m. at the Kimball Theatre, the William and Mary Global Film Festival (GFF) will screen a sneak preview of The Hunting Ground, the new documentary from award-winning filmmaker Kirby Dick about the sexual assault crisis on American college campuses.
The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival last month and since then, critics like Ben Kenigsberg of Variety have predicted that "this galvanic and compelling doc(umentary) seems likely to reverberate in the public discourse and beyond," where one in five women participating in the American higher-education system are victims of sexual assault. The GFF is programming the film as part of its 2015 theme “Film & Renewal” and will present Dick and producer Amy Ziering the festival’s Global Film Can Award. The GFF runs from Thursday, Feb. 19 through Sunday, Feb. 22.
"The Hunting Ground" is being distributed by the Weinstein Company’s Radius division and will open in theatres Feb. 27 and begin a nationwide campus tour after that. Thus, the GFF’s sneak preview this weekend will make William & Mary the first university in the nation to screen the film.
With leadership support from the College’s Student Assembly and from the College’s Task Force on Preventing Sexual Assault and Harassment, the GFF is also bringing to campus Andrea Pino and Annie Clark. Pino and Clark’s inspiring stories of survival and activism give the film’s dark and disturbing message a counterpoint of hope, resilience and renewal, said Festival Director Timothy Barnard.
“It is their story of renewal,” Barnard explains, “that led us to program the film as part of the GFF’s 2015 focus on ‘Film & Renewal.’”
On Sunday Feb. 22, Annie and Andrea will be presented with the GFF’s “Rising Young Talent” award for their inspirational roles in the film. They will also spend the day in conversation with W&M students through a range of forums and sessions.
“The screening of this film is different from anything else the GFF has ever programmed,” declared Barnard, “and it is our hope that the W&M community can come together around this film and Annie and Andrea’s visit and stand with survivors as One Tribe, united and working as leaders for the change our nation and its universities need.”
About the Global Film Can Award Recipients
Kirby Dick is an Academy and Emmy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker. In addition to "The Hunting Ground," his impressive filmography includes the critically acclaimed films "Outrage," "This Film Is Not Yet Rated," and "The Invisible War."
Amy Ziering is an award-winning director and producer, best known for "The Invisible War," "Derrida" and "The Memory Thief." She is the producer of "The Hunting Ground."
About the Rising Young Talent Award Recipients
Andrea Pino and Annie Clark are women’s rights and civil rights activists. They both were primary writers of the 2013 Title IX complaint against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Pino blogs frequently for the Huffington Post about sexual assault crisis on U.S. college campuses.
About the Global Film Festival
The Global Film Festival launched in 2008 with the support of the Reves Center for International Studies and the Roy R. Charles Center for Academic Excellence, to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Williamsburg Theater. For more information on the festival and upcoming events, visit the website http://filmfestival.wm.edu
Tickets for most screenings cost $1, while select marquee films (including The Hunting Ground) cost $3 for students with valid ID and $5 for the general public. The GFF offers four different levels of festival passes, which include access to screenings and events, festival merchandise, and special “Movie &....” deals at participating Merchants Square restaurants. Passes and tickets can be purchased at the Kimball box office or by calling 1-800-HISTORY. For more information, please visit filmfestival.wm.edu.
