‘The Hunting Ground:’ College Women Stop Doing Nothing
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 23, 2015) — “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”
According to the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, those words are the most popular, albeit misattributed, quote of modern times.
Disturbing images bombard us constantly. Some appear to be far removed from the University of Kentucky campus, like the heart-wrenching images of a stumbling mass of desperate families risking their lives to escape war and oppression. Others are far too close to home to justifiably ignore, like the images and stories revealed by the controversial documentary film “The Hunting Ground.”
The same Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning documentary film director whose film “The Invisible War” exposed a culture of sexual assault in the U.S. military now attacks a subject much, much closer to home, sexual assault on American college campuses in “The Hunting Ground.”
Like “Picking Cotton,” this year’s Common Reading Experience book, “The Hunting Ground” also comes with trigger warnings of graphic, sensitive, terrifying images as the film tells the stories of young college women as they evolve from sexual assault victims to survivors to advocates.
Co-sponsored by the Violence Intervention and Prevention Center, its student group Support Peer Activism Resources Connection, and the Dean of Students Office, the film will be shown at noon to 2 p.m. Wednesday at the VIP Center. It is free and open to the public. The VIP Center will open its doors to the Take Action: Film Panel and Discussion at 3:30-5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24.
Due to the highly sensitive nature of the film and discussion topics, there will be trained counselors and advocates, provided by the VIP Center and UK Counseling, to assist any viewer who feels traumatized and/or overwhelmed by the content of the documentary or ensuing discussion.
MEDIA CONTACT: Gail Hairston, 859-257-3302, gail.hairston@uky.edu