Watch The Hunting Ground

The Hunting Ground is a powerful and devastating documentary film released in 2015, directed by Kirby Dick and produced by Amy Ziering. The documentary follows the stories of several young women who have been victims of rape and sexual assault on college campuses, and the struggles they have faced in seeking justice and holding their perpetrators accountable.

The film opens with Andrea Pino and Annie Clark, two former students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, sharing their experiences of sexual assault and the lack of support and resources they received from the university. The audience quickly learns that their experiences are not unique, and that sexual assault on college campuses is a rampant problem across the United States.

Throughout the film, we hear from survivors, their families, and advocates about the ways in which colleges and universities mishandle and cover up reports of sexual assault. Claire Potter, a professor at The New School, provides valuable context and historical perspective about the systemic ways in which sexual assault has been ignored and minimized throughout American history.

The Hunting Ground features extensive interviews with survivors, as well as with administrators, campus police, and advocates who have been working for years to change the way colleges address sexual assault. Their stories are powerful and at times difficult to hear, but the film succeeds in letting them speak for themselves, and in making it clear that this is a problem that must be addressed.

One of the most striking aspects of The Hunting Ground is the way it exposes the ways in which colleges and universities prioritize their reputations over the safety and well-being of their students. We hear about cases in which administrators downplayed or even ignored reports of sexual assault in order to protect their school's image, and about the ways in which colleges have silenced or punished students who speak out about sexual violence on campus.

The film also sheds light on the psychological toll that sexual assault can take on survivors, as well as on the social and cultural factors that contribute to a culture of sexual violence. From fraternities that foster a sense of entitlement and objectification of women, to a larger culture that blames victims for their assaults, The Hunting Ground presents a chilling portrait of the many forces that allow sexual violence to persist.

Despite the bleak subject matter, however, The Hunting Ground is ultimately a call to action. The film highlights the ways in which students, parents, and alumni can work together to demand change and to put pressure on colleges to take sexual violence seriously. We hear about instances in which student activists have successfully pressured schools to change their policies and to take a more active role in preventing sexual assault.

Overall, The Hunting Ground is a powerful and harrowing film that shines a light on one of the most pressing and urgent issues facing college campuses today. It is a necessary and important documentary, one that deserves to be seen by anyone concerned about the safety and well-being of young people in higher education.

The Hunting Ground is a 2015 documentary with a runtime of 1 hour and 30 minutes. It has received mostly positive reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 7.4 and a MetaScore of 77.