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A young woman is raped when a one-night stand far from home goes terribly wrong. In the aftermath, as she struggles to make sense of what happened, she decides to make a film about the relationship between her own experience and the tangle of political, legal, and cultural questions that surround issues of sex and consent. Using a hidden camera, filmmaker Nancy Schwartzman goes head-to-head with the man who assaulted her, recording their conversation in an attempt to move through the trauma of her experience and achieve a better understanding of the sometimes ambiguous line between consent and coercion. The result is a powerful documentary about the terrible personal reality of rape and sexual violence -- and the more complicated and ambivalent ways sexual assault is often framed and understood in the wider culture. Schwartzman, as the prismatic main character, is likeable, while embodying the needs, desires, and inner conflicts common among young sexually active American women. Completed after being presented in classrooms on dozens of college campuses,
The Line is structured to invite and reward students' trust, making them comfortable enough to discuss sex, consent, legal rights, and the politics surrounding gender violence while examining issues too often deemed embarrassing, shameful, or taboo.
For additional resources and information, visit the website for The Line Campaign:
thelinemovie@gmail.com to invite this dynamic program to your campus or community.
Duration: 24 min
ISBN: 1-932869-42-5
Date Produced: 2010
Subtitles: English
Discussion Guide
TranscriptFilmmaker InfoWritten, Directed & Produced by Nancy Schwartzman
Cinematography: Isaac Mathes
Editors: Marin Sander Holzman & Nancy Schwartzman
Original Music: Aaron Albano (aka Ming)
Sound Design: Jeremy Fleishman
Story Consultant: Fernanda Rossi
Filmmaker's Bios
NANCY SCHWARTZMANN | DIRECTOR & PRODUCER
Nancy Schwartzman is a filmmaker, writer and activist working for over thirteen years to create community solutions to combat sexual violence and promote public debate.
The Line is a personal documentary that explores consent from a sex-positive point of view. With an emphasis on interactivity and dialogue, she launched the accompanying
"where is your line?" campaign. Prior to
The Line, she produced the award-winning short film
Ocean Avenue. Nancy is the founder of NYC-Safestreets.org an online initiative noted by
The New York Times,
Gawker,
The Village Voice and
The Daily News to engage community organizations and businesses to create safer routes for pedestrians, especially women. From 2002 to 2005, she was a founding editor and Creative Director of
HEEB Magazine. For six years, Nancy was the Program Officer at the Fund for Jewish Documentary Film. She has curated short film festivals at the Pioneer Theater, Berlin, London, and Tel Aviv. Her essays have been featured in
The Independent,
HEEB,
Sh'ma and
Plenty Magazine. Nancy lectures extensively on college campuses on the topic of consent and healthy sexual boundaries. She is a graduate of Columbia University with a degree in Art History and Film. She has lived in Paris and Jerusalem, and currently resides in Brooklyn. She recently married Isaac Mathes, her cameraman.
ISAAC MATHES | CINEMATOGRAPHY
Isaac Mathes (born in 1972, USA) is a filmmaker, teacher, and freelance cinematographer based in New York City. His work is hybrid and essayistic in nature, moving between the poles of documentary, narrative, and video art. He screens at film festivals, biennales, and galleries, in places a far-flung as Moscow, Thessaloniki, Seoul, and Rotterdam. At home, he shoots for independent filmmakers and clients such as ABC News, National Geographic, and A&E.
MARIN SANDER-HOLZMAN | EDITOR
Marin Sander-Holzman started working in film and television as an apprentice editor for HBO's
The Laramie Project. He went on to be an assistant editor for NBC's
The Today Show and
Dateline as well as
Frontline: The Jesus Factor for PBS. His editorial department feature film credits include
The Woodsman,
Lackawanna Blues,
Off the Black,
Shadowboxer,
Shortbus, and
Staten Island, as well as several long and short form documentaries including the
The News Hour with Jim Lehrer. He edited and was a contributing writer for the eight episode season of
ARTSTAR for Gallery HD/Cablevision, a collaboration with Deitch Projects that followed emerging artists as they navigate the landscape of the New York contemporary art world. Marin has collaborated on video works for contemporary performance with acclaimed choreographers Kim Epifano, Miguel Gutierrez, and Yasuko Yokoshi.
Director's Statement
I never intended to make a film about my sexual boundaries, or to involve myself in
The Line.
Formerly a wild, outspoken, and fierce young woman, I sank into silence after my sexual assault. I was blocked, stunned, confused, and angry. After this event, my life took a drastic turn, and I wasn't sure I wanted to film it. I kept quiet. When I finally did gain the courage to speak, I was directly and indirectly blamed for what happened.
The Line is an intensely personal film.
I felt compelled to tell my story when it became clear that as a sexual woman, who is not "a perfect victim", I would be blamed for what happened. My rape was not clear cut: I was already in his bed. Learning from attorneys that I had legal recourse, but it probably wouldn't hold up in court, I used filmmaking as a tool to better understand the context in which I was raised, and the world that young men and women are growing up in today. Hearing from friends and peers that I was overreacting, or partially to blame for what happened, compelled me further. Filming frat boys, prostitutes, educators, and lawmakers gave me a vehicle with which to ask questions, seek answers and provoke a discussion. Deciding to confront my attacker and film it with a hidden camera, gave me ownership and control, a strength I didn't know I had. It allowed me to face my fear, and construct a film around the powerful dialogue.
Using
The Line, and The Line Campaign to spark dialogue, the viewer is invited to discuss complex scenarios about healthy relationships and sex.
Film Festivals
SEX+++| Jane Addams Hull-House Museum | Chicago | November 8, 2011
Flying Broom International Women's Film Festival | Ankara, Turkey | May 2010
UC Davis Feminist Film Festival | Davis, CA | April 9 - 10, 2010
International Women's Film and Arts Festival | Miami | April 6, 2010
Female Eye Film Festival | Toronto | March 24 - 28, 2010
Filmmor International Women's Film Festival | Istanbul | March 12 - 20, 2010
International Women's Film Festival | Israel | September 11, 2009
San Francisco United Film Festival | San Francisco | June 12 - 18, 2009
Conferences
CFLE's National Sex Ed conference | Somerset, NJ | December 7-9, 2011
American Sociological Association meeting | Las Vegas | August 20-23, 2011
WCADVSA Sexual Assault Summit | Sheridan, WY | April 19 - 21, 2011
American College Personnel Association convention | Baltimore | March 26 - 30, 2011
Wisconsin Women's Studies Conference | Madison, WI | March 25 - 26, 2011
Reimagining Girlhood: Communities, Identities, Self-Portrayals | SUNY Cortland | October 22 - 24, 2010
SPARK Summit | New York | October 22, 2010
2010 National Sexual Assault Conference | Los Angeles | September 1 - 3, 2010
MNCASA's Annual Meeting and Training Symposium | Chaska, MN | August 9 - 10, 2010
Media That Matters: Activate! | New York, NY | June 3, 2010
Sex::Tech Conference | San Francisco | February 26 - 27, 2010
Making Your Media Matter | Washington DC | February 11 - 12, 2010
Muslim Women and Sexuality Conference | Istanbul, Turkey | September 11 - 18, 2009
Limmoud Conference | Paris
Limmud Conference | England
Jewish Women International Conference | Washington, DC
Related Links
The Line Campaign is an educational and interactive digital space that fosters dialogue about sexual boundaries and consent, and empowers young men and women to discuss complex scenarios about healthy relationships and sex.
Whereisyourline.org is a group blog on consent, sex, pleasure, and ways we can ask for it. Through your stories, your photos, and your comments, we hope this is a place where we can dig deeper into all the questions raised by the film.
This campaign is generously funded by The Fledgling Fund.
Nancy Schwartzman is available for speaking engagements, workshops, and campus events. Email
thelinemovie@gmail.com to invite this dynamic program to your campus or community.
