The Hunting Ground
Startling exposé of rape on U.S. college campuses and pervasive institutional complicity
2015 | Running Time: 103 minutes | Rating: PG-13
In college, one in five women are sexually assaulted, yet only a fraction of these crimes are reported and even fewer result in punishments for the perpetrators. In THE HUNTING GROUND, Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering expose a system of institutional cover-ups, rationalizations, victim-blaming and denials that creates the perfect situation for predators to prey without question. Weaving together verité footage and first-person testimonials, the film follows the lives of undergraduate assault survivors who, despite inconceivable push back and harassment, attempt to pursue justice and their education. THE HUNTING GROUND premiered in the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. Director/Writer: Kirby Dick; Producer: Amy Ziering; Executive Producer: Amy Blavin, Paul Blavin, Nicole Boxer, Dan Cogan, Bob Compton, Maria Cuomo Cole, Ted Dintersmith, Barbara Dobkin, Geralyn White Dreyfous, Amy Entelis, Barbara Gerson, Mark Gerson, Ruth Ann Harnisch, Elizabeth Hazard, Jason Janego, Sarah Johnson, Julie Lépinard, Sébastien Lépinard, Vinnie Malhotra, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Sukey Novogratz, Brian Quattrini, Tom Quinn, Annie Roney, Wendy Schmidt, Regina K. Scully, Anne O’Shea, Julie Smolyansky, Jacki Zehner
Kirby Dick, Director
Kirby Dick is an Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning documentary film director, renowned for documentaries exposing institutional sexual assault like THE HUNTING GROUND (2015) and THE INVISIBLE WAR (2012). His films include THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED (2004), which compelled the MPAA to change to the film-ratings system, and DERRIDA (2002), a portrait of the French philosopher.
Amy Ziering, Producer
Amy Ziering is an Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker. She’s worked together with director Kirby Dick on several acclaimed documentaries including THE HUNTING GROUND (2015), THE INVISIBLE WAR (2012), and OUTRAGE (2009). The first film she produced was TAYLOR’S CAMPAIGN (1998), about a homeless man running for a city council seat in Santa Monica.
Primetime Emmy Awards 2016: Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics, Primetime Emmy Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking (nomination)
Grammy Awards 2016: Grammy for Best Song Written for Visual Media (nomination)
Academy Awards, USA 2016: Oscar for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song (nomination)
Women’s Image Network Awards 2015: WIN Award for Outstanding Documentary Film
Utah Film Critics Association Awards 2015: UFCA Award for Best Documentary Feature Film
Satellite Awards 2015: Satellite Award for Best Original Song
Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2016: Artisan Award
PGA Awards 2016: Stanley Kramer Award
Hollywood Music In Media Awards (HMMA) 2015: HMMA Award for Best Original Score – Documentary
Bergen International Film Festival 2015: Check Points for Human Rights Award
Traverse City Film Festival 2015: Audience Award for Best Documentary Film (nomination)
Stockholm Film Festival 2015: Best Documentary (nomination)
St. Louis Film Critics Association, US 2015: SLFCA Award for Best Song, SLFCA Award for Best Documentary Film (nomination)
Sheffield International Documentary Festival 2015: Grand Jury Award (nomination)
Seattle Film Critics Awards 2016: Seattle Film Critics Award for Best Music, Original Song (nomination)
Satellite Awards 2015: Satellite Award for Best Motion Picture, Documentary
PGA Awards 2016: PGA Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures (nomination)
Online Film & Television Association 2016: OFTA Film Award for Best Music, Original Song (nomination)
MTV Movie + TV Awards 2016: MTV Movie Award for Documentary (nomination)
Guild of Music Supervisors Awards 2016: GMS Award for Best Music Supervision for a Documentary (nomination)
Gold Derby Awards 2016: Gold Derby Award for Original Song (nomination)
Georgia Film Critics Association (GAFCA) 2016: GAFCA Award for Best Original Song (nomination)
Denver Film Critics Society 2016: DFCS Award for Best Original Song (nomination)
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards 2015: DFWFCA Award for Best Documentary (nomination)
Cinema Eye Honors Awards, US 2016: Cinema Eye Audience Choice Prize (nomination)
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 2015: CFCA Award for Best Documentary (nomination)
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards 2016: Critics Choice Award for Best Song (nomination)
Awards Circuit Community Awards 2015: ACCA for Best Original Song (nomination)
Alliance of Women Film Journalists 2016: AWFJ EDA Award for Best Documentary (nomination)
“An unsettling primer on the campus-rape epidemic, armed with a battery of statistics and testimonials demonstrating how university systems fail to address the severity of the problem.”
SLANT
Tags: Documentary, Feature, Gender, Sexual Violence & Abuse, Education, Politics