A documentary triptych on cyber harassment and cyberbullying explaining why all the biggest social scandals of recent years are related to women’s rights.
Seven years ago, Cynthia Lowen produced Bully—a documentary on harassment among teenagers in American schools. Her directorial film debut partly carries on this idea: in Netizens she observes three women who have experience of fighting bullying and other offences against people on the Internet. Anita Sarkeesian is a writer and videoblogger who exposes sexism in video games; Carrie Goldberg is a lawyer who handles cases that are constantly ignored by the police, such as revenge porn offences; Tina Reine has dealt with bullying for years, both in real life and online, because of the peculiarities of her appearance. Through their stories the film tangentially addresses the hottest topics from recent years: from GamerGate to WeinsteinGate and the #MeToo movement that started gaining momentum while the project was in production. The film not only highlights the most important facts of these scandals but also invites Internet users to experience an essential lesson in empathy.
Before the screening, a discussion will take place with the film's director Cynthia Lowen and journalist and author of the blog about gender and feminism, nikonova.online, Tatyana Nikonova.
Tribeca Official Selection – 2018
HotDocs Official Selection – 2018
Netizens
Director Cynthia Lowen. USA, 2018. 96 minutes.
16+