Although April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Peace House is paving the way a month earlier with a free screening of Maria Schrader’s “She Said” on Thursday, March 9, at the Park City Library’s Jim Santy Auditorium.
Peace House is a nonprofit that works to stop domestic violence, and the film, rated R, is a docudrama based on a book of the same name, about how New York Times investigative reporters Megan Twohey (Carey Mulligan) and Jodi Kantor (Zoe Kazan) in 2017 broke the story regarding the sexual assault accusations surrounding Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
The story led to Weinstein’s arrest, charges and current trial, said Sally Tauber, Peace House director of development.
“Through the investigation, people came forward and told their stories,” Tauber said. “It wasn’t their intention to necessarily ‘out’ Harvey. It was their intent to find the truth.”
The truth, however, led to the #metoo movement, which showed up in Park City during the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, and featured speeches by activist Jane Fonda and Gloria Allred.
Women, men and allies marched down Main Street and gathered in City Park for a rally. Tauber was among those who marched.
“It was fascinating,” she said. “And it was heartening to see all the movie stars that showed up and expressed their support.”
Showing a film like this not only sheds light on the issue of sexual assault and harrassment, but also how reporters can help raise awareness, according to Emma Zevallos, Peace House director of prevention and education. It “shows the role of investigative journalism,” she said.
In addition to hosting the screening, which is sponsored by the Utah Film Studios, Peace House has curated a panel for a post-film discussion.
Panelists will be Liliana Olvera-Arvon, executive director of Utah Coalition of Sexual Assault, a nonprofit that collborates with individuals and organizations in local and state-level platforms to strengthen the effectiveness of sexual violence education, prevention, and response in Utah, and Margaret Olson, Summit County attorney.
The panel will be moderated by Erin Alberty, the lead reporter in The Salt Lake Tribune’s Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of sexual assaults on college campuses.
“They are experts in their field, who can give us different perspectives of these issues,” Zevallos said. “We feel a panel like this is very relevant, because it allows people to ask questions. And I think it’s important for the community to engage with the people who do this work in different capacities. That creates more awareness and education.”
Peace House Executive Director Kendera Wyckoff said in a statement that she hopes the screening and discussion will showcase available resources for sexual assault survivors and encourage the community to engage in meaningful dialogue.
“We also hope that this film supports and informs our community, and that we can continue conversations surrounding sexual assault victimization, the realities that victims face, and the prevention of sexual assault,” she said.
Peace House will also provide counselors on site during the screening, Tauber said.
“They will be there, because the film may be a trigger for some of the audience members,” she said.
Tauber learned more about the work Twohey and Kantor did when Peace House brought Kantor to a donor event during the holidays.
“The story is so inspirational, and it ties into what Peace House is doing in its support for those who have been sexually assaulted,” she said. “Adding sexual assault support services to our mission is fairly new, and we respond to assaults through the Park City Hospital.”
Peace House provides a team, which includes volunteers, to work with those who have been assaulted, according to Tauber. “We support victims through their exams and do follow up services like physical therapy and counseling,” she said.
Peace House partnered with Park City Film, the local arthouse nonprofit, and its executive director, Katharine Wang, to bring “She Said” to town.
“It’s quite an effort to find out what’s available filmwise to screen,” Tauber said. “So, it’s great that we’re able to do this in collaboration with Katy Wang, because she helps us so much.”
Park City Film had been tossing around the idea to bring “She Said” to Park City since it made its premiere last November, Wang said.
“We had been looking at it for our regular programming, and we had been looking for a community partner,” she said. “Peace House seemed to fit.”
Films like “She Said” help make addressing a topic as serious as sexual assault easier, Wang said.
“Sometimes art and oftentimes the art of cinema can make things more accessible to the community,” she said. “Sometimes film can give you more information about a topic, and It can also provide you access to resources that organizations like Peace House provide.”
Sometimes a film like “She Said” can tell the story of some of its audience members, Wang said.
“It’s empowering to see that story that you may not feel comfortable sharing publicly,” she said. “I think this may be true for a lot of women in the case of ‘She Said,’ because it goes beyond talking about Harvey Weinstein. It goes on to talk about the #metoo movement, and how so many women, unfortunately, have been victims of sexual harrassment and sexual assault.”
Still, “She Said” wasn’t the first film Wang and her staff had wanted to bring in for the Peace House partnership.
“We had been looking at some films that Sundance premiered at this year’s festival as potential candidates, because new films are always a draw,” she said. “Unfortunately those films weren’t, yet, available to us. So we looked around more broadly.”
Working with local nonprofits such as Peace House for its Reel Community Series is an important part of Park City Film’s services, Wang said.
“Really the mission of the Reel Community Series has been to use film to elevate the mission of our partners, and letting people know there are resources available, and showing the work that they are doing,” she said.
Although “She Said” started in Hollywood, it isn’t about a problem that is exclusive to Hollywood, Wang said. “It’s a universal problem, but having a large profile like Harvey Weinstein being the object of the investigation allowed a much wider spotlight to be shown on the issue. … “It gave other women and men (permission) to say ‘This also happened to me.’”