The Rape of Recy Taylor
How a sexual assault in the Jim Crow South triggered an unprecedented outcry
2017 | Running Time: 91 minutes | Rating: NR
Recy Taylor, a 24-year-old black mother and sharecropper, was gang raped by six white boys in 1944 Alabama. During the Jim Crow South, black women attempting to expose these crimes would commonly be threatened with death. Taylor chose to speak up anyway and bravely identified her rapists. The NAACP then sent its chief rape investigator Rosa Parks, who rallied support and triggered an unprecedented outcry for justice, including the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott. In the wake of more and more women speaking out against rape today, the film links black women’s efforts to take control of their own bodies in the past and present. THE RAPE OF RECY TAYLOR premiered at the 2017 Venice Film Festival. Director/Producer: Nancy Buirski; Producer: Claire L. Chandler,Beth Hubbard, Susan Margolin; Executive Producer: Barbara Dobkin, CarolAnne Dolan, Geralyn White Dreyfous, Derrick Harkins, Bobby Kondrat, Regina K. Scully, Nick Stuart, Amy Tiemann, Mark Trustin, Jack Turner
Venice Film Festival 2017: Human Rights Film Network Award, Venice Horizons Award for Best Film (nomination)
Women Film Critics Circle Awards 2017: Josephine Baker Award, Adrienne Shelly Award (nomination)
Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival 2018: Amnesty International Award (nomination)
Image Awards 2018: Image Award Outstanding Documentary (Film) (nomination)
Chicago International Film Festival 2017: Gold Hugo Best Documentary (nomination)
“Essential viewing, not least for its emphasis on the crucial role of women in the civil-rights movement …”
THE NEW YORKER