Film at Laemmle Sparks Public Interest
On March 21st, Laemmle’s Claremont 5 theatre showed a documentary called “The Hunting Ground,” and had a question and answer session after the show about the sexual harassment that many college students face. “The Hunting Ground” is a 2015 documentary film, written and directed by Kirby Dick, about rape at U.S. colleges, which premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. This film was created as the result of a previous documentary, “The Invisible War,” which reopened issues of sexual harassment within the military. Dick hopes that “The Hunting Ground” will similarly spark a revolution to change how rape is handled on campuses.
“It is disheartening to hear so many women are being raped. The fact that one in five women who attend college will be raped is a horrifying statistic. I am happy that documentaries are bringing issues such as this into the light,” sophomore Spencer Sharp said.
The documentary focuses on Andrea Pino and Annie E. Clark, two former students of the University of North Carolina (UNC), who were raped. The two went on to file a Title IX complaint, which prohibits discrimination, against UNC. Several other students were interviewed throughout the film about their experiences being sexually assaulted on their college campus. They spoke about college administrators who ignored them because they were more concerned about keeping rape statistics low. The film’s main focuses were sexual assaults which occurred at Harvard University and UNC, and at certain fraternities, such as Sigma Alpha Epsilon at the campuses mentioned earlier.
“I am going to college next year and the thought of that is daunting; this documentary is important to me as I will attend college in New York, senior Lindsey Lannan said. “What Kirby Dick has done is great and makes campus life more enjoyable and safe as I will be more aware of the dangers.”
Rape has become a serious problem on campuses throughout the U.S. and people need to take a stand and end sexual assaults which occur at colleges. “The Hunting Ground” is expected to have a similar response as to Dick’s previous film “The Invisible War,” which sparked much outrage and demands for change. The film crew hopes the film will help prevent sexual assaults.
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James Jung is a Senior and Editor serving his fourth year on The Wolfpacket. James is a devoted brother to fellow staff members of the Wolfpacket team....
