A deep dive into the crimes that placed Steubenville, Ohio in national headlines, “Roll Red Roll” has found a home. A press release announced that Together Films has acquired Nancy Schwartzman’s documentary for U.S. theatrical distribution and it’s been selected as Opening Film for the 32nd season of PBS’ “POV” in June.
“Roll Red Roll” made its world premiere at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. The doc is described as a true crime thriller that “explores a sexual assault case where members of a small town’s high school football team sexually assaulted a teenage girl” and “unearths the complex motivations of both perpetrators and bystanders. It also looks unflinchingly at the role adults played in enabling the culture.”
“In ‘Roll Red Roll’ we see young men acting with total privilege and without accountability. This wasn’t a ‘one-off’ incident,” Schwartzman told us. “This was a pattern of behavior that went beyond just a juvenile criminal trial, but led to a Grand Jury investigation of school officials. There should have been no question about what happened, and yet: the entire town was divided.”
The director described the film as an “opportunity to look at a regular American town. We are asking teenagers to ‘know better’ but the adults in their lives aren’t modeling better behavior. There were school administrators and teachers that heard rumors, and there were coaches who did nothing, or defended players without asking the tough questions,” she explained. “And by doing nothing, and not taking it seriously, they were enabling it — excusing and justifying it, or looking the other way. This situation underscores the need for responsibility and for us to behave as friends, parents, family members, fellow classmates, teachers, school administrators, coaches, and everyone in our communities to make sure that we believe survivors, we investigate carefully, and this behavior stops.”
“Roll Red Roll’s” theatrical run will kick off March 22 in New York with additional cities to follow. The film will air on “POV” June 17.
“Nancy’s film will rattle you to the core,” said Justine Nagan, executive producer/executive director of “POV”/American Documentary. “As women and young girls across the country come forward to hold their abusers to account, this film reveals how bystanders — especially adults tasked with our children’s well-being — can perpetuate violence against women simply by looking the other way. This story is an important lesson on the power of bystander intervention.”
“The ‘Roll Red Roll’ theatrical release launches a nationwide campaign, during Sexual Assault Awareness Month this April 2019,” the press release details. “Picture Motion will be working with the ‘Roll Red Roll’ Impact Team on community, education, and campus screenings, to ensure that the film is reaching young men and boys within these environments.” Working with partners across the country including The Biden Foundation, Promundo End Rape on Campus, and It’s On Us, the impact campaign is designed to “incite critical conversations with men and boys about rape culture, toxic masculinity, and bystander intervention, especially in the athletic arena.”
Schwartzman directed short docs “The Line” and “xoxosms.” Also a human rights activist, she created the White House award-winning mobile app “Circle of 6,” designed to reduce sexual violence.
