A group of eight MSU students created the documentary film “Every Two Minutes” to display the issue of sexual assault through the eyes of survivors, advocates, therapists and politicians.The film will premiere at 7 p.m. on April 24 at Studio C! Cinema in Okemos.
Every two minutes, a person in the US is sexually assaulted. Of those sexual assaults, on average, 60 percent go unreported.
As both men and women break the silence, their varying stories reveal similar themes that extend beyond our culture’s traditional understanding of this violence. From every age, gender and socioeconomic class, these survivors bring a face to this incredibly prevalent yet under-reported crime.
Among the film’s diverse group of survivors is Michigan’s Senate Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer. In the film, Whitmer discusses her experiences as a newly recognized survivor and expresses the importance of shifting blame to the perpetrator, taking action and rising for justice.
This documentary is the product of the semester-long capstone class for the documentary specialization at MSU. The students took first place amid dozens of other students in the Communication Arts category of MSU’s Undergraduate Research and Arts Forum.
For more information, visit everytwominutesfilm.com.