![]() ![]() Jamie Dantzscher, one of the gymnasts, even describes him as “the only nice adult”. In these trying conditions, the gymnasts began to see Nassar as their only friend, the sole adult figure who treated them kindly and offered emotional support. Notorious for their militaristic methods meant to harden and push these athletes to the limits, the Károlyis fostered a 'win-at-all-costs' ethos to build their assembly line of little Nadia Comănecis. Cut off from the rest of the world (away from their parents and phones), they were at the mercy of their coaches, Béla and Márta Károlyi. The young gymnasts were trained in controlled conditions at the Karolyi Ranch in Texas. Their testimonies reveal how their Olympic dream became a nightmare, how a competitive culture turned into an exploitative one. By the time he stood trial, 125 survivors came forward to testify and over 500 girls and women accused him of sexual abuse. The first complaint against Nassar was made two decades earlier in 1997. It then attempts to decipher the mechanisms that allowed the USA Gymnastics (USAG) doctor to enjoy impunity for decades, before finally being sentenced to 60 years in prison in 2017. Recognising the documentary's social currency in these times, Athlete A directors Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk don't just build a powerful narrative around the Larry Nassar scandal, but take into account the system, the gatekeepers, the power dynamics and all the factors that played a part in the decades-long cover-up. ![]() If fiction filmmakers craft a narrative into a convincing representation of reality, documentary filmmakers work the opposite way: they craft reality into a compelling narrative. #MeToo is after all an intersectional, intergenerational and international movement - and 2017 was a watershed year for many survivors of sexual violence. Now, they take aim at another institution which allowed sexual violence to reach epidemic proportions. In their 2015 documentary The Hunting Ground, Dick and Ziering brought to light the culture of sexual assault on American college campuses. ![]() We see this moment two-thirds into On The Record, Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering's recent documentary on the sexual assault allegations against music mogul Russell Simmons. She breaks down in tears but for the first time, it feels like she has finally reclaimed her narrative - a narrative that, for two decades, was buried. Right on the front page is her story of surviving sexual assault - "Three Allege Music Mogul Raped Them" - and the black-and-white photo of the man responsible for it. In December 2017, a couple of months after the Weinstein scandal, Drew Dixon buys a copy of the New York Times at a Brooklyn coffee shop. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |