A doc about women and online harassment is opening in wide release to coincide with National Domestic Violence Month. Cynthia Lowen’s “Netizens” will hit theaters October 22. A press release confirmed the news.
Originally unveiled at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival, “Netizens” follows three women whose lives are changed by online harassment. The doc features “prominent Brooklyn attorney Carrie Goldberg and author of ‘Nobody’s Victim,’ who was the target of ‘revenge porn;’ Anita Sarkeesian, founder of Feminist Frequency and subject of the ‘Gamergate’ attacks; and Tina Reine, a businesswoman whose career is destroyed by reputation-harming websites created by an ex-boyfriend,” according to its synopsis. “Netizens” tackles revenge porn, cyber-stalking, threats of violence, and hacking, among other issues that women are forced to deal with online. The film “speaks directly to digital abuse stemming from intimate partners, and shines a critical light on why law enforcement and DV advocates must be equipped to effectively respond to these forms of abuse.”
As the press release notes, “One in 25 Americans has been threatened with or faced a vicious form of digital harassment in which explicit images are shared online without the subject’s consent, according to a report released by think tank Data & Society and the Center for Innovative Public Health Research.”
When we asked Lowen what she’d like audiences to think about after seeing “Netizens,” she said. “I want people to be cheering for the women in the film, and to feel that we all have stake in the fabric of the internet. But this film isn’t entirely about online harassment; it’s really about what online harassment has revealed about discrimination that permeates our cultures,” she emphasized. “The internet has shown that we have a long way to go towards equality and justice, and it has provided an incredible window into attitudes people may not feel comfortable expressing person-to-person, but are very real. As people leave the theater, I want those who are fearful of expressing themselves online to feel courage,” she added. “I want people who have been shamed by privacy violations to know the offense lies with the perpetrator. I want young women to know there is a huge community ready to champion their words and thoughts and ambitions.”
Following its world premiere at Tribeca, the film went on to screen at fests such as Hot Docs International Documentary Festival and Zurich Film Festival.
“Netizens” marks Lowen’s directorial debut. She produced and co-wrote “Bully,” a doc about bullying that’s been seen by over five million students in the U.S.
Check out a trailer for “Netizens” below.
