Roll Red Roll
Feature length film Completed 2018
Director
Nancy Schwartzman
Producer
Steven Lake
Producer
Jessica Devaney
Producer
Nancy Schwartzman
Doc Society helped with
Production
Impact
Went to Good Pitch
Runtime: 80 minutes
Follow the film
“Essential viewing…” - The Hollywood Reporter
“… it’ll stay with you forever” - Slate
Roll Red Roll is a true-crime thriller that goes behind the headlines to uncover the deep-seated and social media-fueled “boys will be boys” culture at the root of high school sexual assault in America.
At a pre-season football party in small-town Steubenville, Ohio, a heinous crime took place: the assault of a teenage girl by members of the beloved high school football team. What transpired would garner national attention and result in the sentencing of two key offenders. But it was the disturbing social media evidence uncovered online by crime blogger Alex Goddard that provoked the most powerful questions about the case, and about the collusion of teen bystanders, teachers, parents and coaches to protect the assailants and discredit the victim. As it painstakingly reconstructs the night of the crime and its aftermath, Roll Red Roll uncovers the engrained rape culture at the heart of the incident, acting as a cautionary tale about what can happen when teenage social media bullying runs rampant and adults look the other way. The film unflinchingly asks: “why didn’t anyone stop it?”
Crew
Some of the most disturbing material in "Roll Red Roll" comes via audio from a sports radio show.
CNN.com
March 22, 2019
[Schwartzman] stitches together her narrative through the text messages and social media posts that made the Steubenville case infamous. But she also grounds the story in the reaction of the community.
Observer
March 22, 2019
Schwartzman's careful narrative derives its power not just from the archived depravity that gave prosecutors plenty of evidence... but the troubling inquiry - with no simple answers - at the heart of the case.
Los Angeles Times
May 3, 2019
Some of the filmmaking here is a little frustrating, but Roll Red Roll is ultimately an insightful portrait of an entire city shaken and altered by one heinous act, amplified by modern technology.
RogerEbert.com
March 22, 2019
Even if you're steeped in the saga of Steubenville, the film contains plenty to appall you afresh.
The New Yorker
March 22, 2019
"Roll Red Roll" captures, with potent power, how the "If it feels good, wreck it" ethos of the beer-pong drink-till-you-submit forced "hookup" is finding more and more of a home among high schoolers.
Variety
March 21, 2019
A tough but essential watch, "Roll Red Roll" documents how a sexual assault in a declining Appalachian town became an international cause célèbre.
New York Times
March 21, 2019
