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The Indiana Daily Student

Documentary encourages students to speak up about sexual assault

The director and producer for Brave Miss World, Cecilia Peck, answers IU students' questions after the movie concludes on Friday evening.

When Cecilia Peck was approached by Linor Abargil, 1998 Miss World pageant winner, to create a documentary about the story of her sexual assault, she thought it would be a one-year documentary. It eventually became a five-year project, and even after its release, Peck said it continues to influence the work that she does.

Peck, director and producer of “Brave Miss World,” visited IU to speak to students at a screening of the documentary Tuesday evening. The film screening and discussion led by Peck were sponsored by the Helene G. Simon Hillel Center as well as several campus greek organizations, including Alpha Epsilon Pi, Alpha Epsilon Phi, Zeta Beta Tau, Sigma Alpha Mu, Sigma Delta Tau and Men Against Rape and Sexual Assault, an initiative of the 
Interfraternity Council.

The documentary tells the story of the aftermath of Abargil’s assault and winning of the pageant, which drove her to advocate for victims of sexual assault throughout the world. The film follows the story of Abargil’s journey toward recovery as well as stories of other survivors of sexual assault.

“Once I found in Linor such a compelling character, I was committed to seeing the project through no matter how long it took,” Peck said. “She was so unafraid to speak out about rape, and I knew she could take the audience on that journey even though it’s such an unpopular subject and it’s so hard to talk about.”

“Brave Miss World,” which was nominated for an Emmy award in 2014, has now been shown at more than 200 college campuses through the “I Am Brave Educational Speaking Series.” The documentary’s website, bravemissworld.com, has more than 2 million visitors and is a resource for survivors of sexual assault. Peck, as well as Abargil and other producers of the film, continue to travel to many of the campus showings to speak.

“Screening the film on college campuses was always a big goal even when we were making it,” Peck said. “It’s a very vulnerable age, and it’s a group we wanted to reach 
out to.”

The idea to bring the film to IU’s campus and turn it into a larger event was put forth by members of a class for Jewish greek leadership at the Hillel Center, Rabbi Sue Laikin Silberberg, executive director of 
Hillel, said.

“We talk about a number of different issues, one of them being rape and sexual assault, and after that the event really took on a life of its own,” Silberberg said. “The students took it over and ran with it, which is really great, because the only way to make a difference with things like this is if it comes from the students themselves and they care about it.”

Before the screening and discussion, the Hillel Center organized a dinner and panel between representatives from the sponsoring greek organizations, IU Sexual Assault Crisis Services, the Middle Way House and other groups involved with raising awareness of sexual assault.

“I think one of the biggest issues with sexual assault is not wanting to stand up and say anything about it,” said Elli Bock, vice president of Sigma Delta Tau. “If you see other people talking about it, you’re more likely to speak out, and I think this documentary helps with that and promotes the idea that you shouldn’t be embarrassed to talk about it.”

The documentary has become a vehicle for education about definitions of consent, ways to speak up about sexual assault and encouraging bystander intervention, Peck said. The point the film is meant to drive home is the importance of breaking the silence surrounding the issue of sexual assault, Peck said.

“The worst thing we can do is stay silent,” Peck said. “This is a hard issue to talk about, and when you’re affected by it, you have to fight hard to be able to do it. But the important thing is that we can.”

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