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Sundance Film Festival 2015: 'The Hunting Ground' Debuts With Powerful Testimony from Sexual Assault Survivors

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Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering debuted a documentary at the Sundance Film Festival this week in Utah exposing the sexual assault epidemic on several college campuses in the U.S.

According to the Associated Press, "The Hunting Ground" premiered Friday and focuses on how high-ranking schools cover up sexual assault to protect their image. Dick (director) and Ziering (producer) used extensive testimony from victims and statistics to support their claims.

Dick previously directed "Invisible War," a documentary that focused on sexual assault in the U.S. Military.

The film notes that such prestigious institutions have an incentive to keep crime stats for sexual assault and rape low or non-existent. Some of those who shared their story for the film said administrators and investigators questioned them about how they were dressed, how much they had to drink and how they knew the person who attacked them.

"The Hunting Grounds" will be released in theatres on March 20 and will then air on CNN later in the year, the AP reported.

President Barack Obama has made campus sexual assault reform a priority, launching two different campaigns, Not Alone and It's On Us. The Education Department also began publicly disclosing its list of schools under Title IX and Clery Act investigations.

But before "The Hunting Grounds," victims of sexual assault have been mostly unseen and little heard. In most cases, the name of the victim is often withheld, due to the nature of the crime, but those who speak in the new film are making their face and their voice known.

And one of the most significant names in the documentary will be Erica Kinsman, who has decided to go public with her identity for the first time, the Daily Beast reported. Kinsman is the former Florida State University student who accused Jameis Winston of sexually assaulting her in Dec. 2012.

She said she went to the police right away, but Tallahassee Police Department detective Scott Angulo botched the investigation. At the hospital, she underwent a rape kit, but Angulo never obtained Winston's DNA. Kinsman and her attorneys have also said Angulo never talked to Winston and never obtained surveillance footage potentially vital to the case.

The AP reported the filmmaking itself in "The Hunting Ground" was not spectacular, which highlights the contents, the film's substance.

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