The Hollywood (and government, not to mention society in general) long-overdue scandal over sexual misconduct (think: Harvey Weinstein) continues to roil with the announcement this week of Times Up Now, a legal defense fund created because: “The clock has run out on sexual assault, harassment and inequality in the workplace. It’s time to do something about it.”
Salt Lake magazine reported this month on a locally produced documentary on sexual misconduct in the entertainment industry by the same team, Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick, that made Hidden War, about rape in the military, and Hunting Ground about rape on American campuses. (Salt Lake Film Center Director Geralyn Dreyfous, above, is a producer.) New Yorker magazine this week reported that money is becoming available to support the documentary as questions grow as to whether Hollywood can change its ways:
Amy Ziering, a documentarian who has made films about sexual assault in the military and on college campuses and is now at work on one about Hollywood—suddenly, funding has materialized—told me, “I’m stunned. I keep reading the headlines, thinking, Am I reading the Onion or the New York Times? ‘Man Accused of Assault and Fired!’ It’s surreal.”
Sundance Institute and film festival have been pivotal in tracking women’s increasing impact in alternative films and increasing women’s creative participation. Read about it in the January issue of Salt Lake magazine, available on newsstands.
Meanwhile, Salt Lake Speaks, SLMag‘s podcast, will take on the issue Thursday with guest Diana Whitten, founder of the Utah Chapter of Film Fatales—tune in.
