Williamsburg Regional Library

The line, written, directed, and produced by Nancy Schwartzman

eng

videorecording

Grade 9+Higher education

The line

885417768

Originally produced by Media Education Foundation in 2010

written, directed, and produced by Nancy Schwartzman

24

A one-night stand far from home goes terribly wrong. A young woman is raped. 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 - as well as the complicated and ambivalent ways sexual assault gets framed and understood in the wider culture. Schwartman, as the prismatic main charater, 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 - issues too often deemed embarrassing, shameful, or taboo

live action