Roll Red Roll

Film phase:Completed

SYNOPSIS

Go behind the headlines of notorious high school sexual assault to witness the social media fueled “boys will be boys” culture that let it happen.

In small-town Ohio, at a pre-season football party, a horrible incident took place. What transpired would garner national attention and result in the sentencing of two key offenders. As amateur crime blogger Alex Goddard uncovers disturbing evidence on Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter, documenting the assault of a teenage girl by members of the beloved high school football team, questions linger around the collusion of teen and adult bystanders. Roll Red Roll explores the complex motivations of both perpetrators and bystanders in this story, to unearth the attitudes at the core of their behavior. The Steubenville story acts as a cautionary tale of what can happen when adults look the other way and deny that rape culture exists. With unprecedented access to police documents, exhibits and evidence, the documentary feature unflinchingly asks: “why didn’t anyone stop it?”

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Nancy Schwartzman smiles at the camera. Black and white portrait.Nancy Schwartzman is a filmmaker, media strategist and mobile app developer. Her documentary about teenagers, love and technology, xoxosms was broadcast on POV and BBCRadio 4, and her first film The Line explored sexual consent and traveled extensively in the U.S. and abroad. A globally recognized activist to prevent gender-based violence, she is the creator of the mobile app, Circle of 6, a White House winning app to prevent sexual violence, with over 300,000 users around the world. She was the impact strategist for Academy Award-nominated The Invisible War and Girl Model.