Writer-director Kirby ****, whose new documentary examining campus sexual assaults is getting national attention, says Erica Kinsman "wanted her side told."
Kinsman, 20, of Zephyrhills makes her first public comments in The Hunting Ground as she describes a violent, possibly drug-impaired encounter with a man she later identified as Florida State Seminoles quarterback Jameis Winston.
"What struck me about Erica is how sort of consistent her story has been, and how level-headed her presentation has been. She's been very precise and thoughtful," **** said in a telephone interview. "I've done hundreds of interviews with survivors, and I didn't see any attempt to sort of exaggerate or anything like that."
No charges were filed against Winston due to a lack of evidence.
The Oscar-nominated filmmaker, who challenges that decision in The Hunting Ground, recently visited Tallahassee to speak at the film's screenings. "One person said this was the first time she'd ever been in a public situation where the name Erica Kinsman was discussed in a positive light," he said.
Kinsman's story occupies the third act of the film, which opens locally Sunday exclusively at Tampa Theatre. The documentary includes segments from women and one man who recount how they were raped by classmates at their universities and then brushed off by administrators and investigators. Some were publicly criticized for speaking out, none more than Kinsman, due to the high profile and popularity of Winston, 21, who is expected to be taken No. 1 in this month's NFL draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Soon after her identity was revealed online, FSU football fans began discrediting, insulting, even threatening Kinsman on social media sites and in public. Kinsman withdrew from FSU within a few days of her accusation becoming public.
Reliving that experience for the camera wasn't an easy decision, **** said.
"Certainly Erica experienced a great deal of vitriol. Also I think she's a very private person to start with. She took some time before she said yes. … But so much was being heard — the other side of the story — and she wanted her side told," he said.
**** said no money was paid to Kinsman or any interview subject in The Hunting Ground. He also spoke to a claim by FSU president John Thrasher that his office wasn't allowed enough time to respond to the film's charges of neglect in handling Kinsman's case.
"They were given two months to respond before we completed the film," **** said. "They didn't contact us until just several days before it would be theatrically released (Feb. 27 in New York and Los Angeles). We reached out to several dozen presidents and very few of them responded at all. Or if they did respond it was to decline interviews.
"A part of the problem is that you don't see college presidents willing to speak out on this issue … because then people will say, oh, that must be 'the rape campus.' "
At least one disputed part of Kinsman's narrative passes without **** providing all the facts. She recalls drinking a shot at a Tallahassee nightclub. "I'm fairly certain there was something in that drink," she says in the movie. However, no drugs were found in her system, a point The Hunting Ground never mentions.
"We spoke to an expert at the FBI who deals with these cases all the time," **** said. "He pointed out that in many of these (cases) they don't test for all the drugs that are out there. Obviously there are new drugs coming on the market all the time."
The Hunting Ground completes ****'s unofficial trilogy of documentaries on sexual abuse in trusted institutions. He earned Academy Award nominations for The Invisible War (rape in the military) and Twist of Faith (molestation by a Catholic priest).