The Case You

Just how far is it acceptable to push actors in the name of cinema? And at what point do you cross the boundary where acting becomes sexual assault? These are the questions raised by the testimony of six young women who were manipulated and sexually abused during an audition. They knew beforehand that the film they were auditioning for was about incest, and they were familiar with the director’s controversial work. But during the audition, without prior discussion, they were groped, beaten, and forced to undress. These traumatizing experiences resurfaced when a few years later it transpired that the footage of the auditions had been made into a documentary. The women aren’t just fighting back through the courts. They have banded together to tell their story on camera, in a sort of antidote to the toxic audition. The director of The Case You, Alison Kuhn, is one of them. This neutralizes the camera’s potentially predatory eye and turns the lens into a liberating channel to express anger and demand justice. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)