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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

Sundance Film Festival

2015

Official Selection

Producer's Guild of America

2015

Winner - Stanley Kramer Award

Nominee - Best Documentary

Academy Awards

2015

Nominee - Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song

Shortlist - Best Documentary Feature

Emmy-Primetime

2016

Winner - Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics 

Nominee - Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking 

Grammy Awards

2016

Nominee - Best Original Song

Cinema Eye Honors Awards

2016

Nominee - Cinema Eye Audience Choice Prize

Sheffield Doc/Fest

2015

Official Selection

MTV Movie Awards

2016

Nominee - Best Documentary

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