YASB
work in progress
YOU ARE SO BRAVE
When television producer Stephanie McCanles receives a call from the Milwaukee police about a DNA match in her 28-year-old cold case sexual assault, she makes a decision that is equal parts defiant and desperate: she will document the court proceedings herself — as both a victim seeking closure and a filmmaker demanding control of her own story. What follows is a taut courtroom procedural and a searing interrogation of the costs of survivorship
As Stephanie rides the twin rollercoasters of both the judicial system and film production, she reflects on what it has meant to be “brave” and “strong” all these years, and whether the myth of the “brave survivor” is just a performance for a society that finds stories of sexual assault dramatic and exciting in the media and embarrassing and uncomfortable in close contact. A gripping, bluntly honest and occasionally humorous examination of what it means to seek justice for sexual assault in a post #METOO world.
tease reel 6:00
The state of Wisconsin allowed Stephanie to bring a camera crew into the courtroom. Nine months of vérité filming captured the all the events of the trial of her assailant.