KEEP QUIET AND FORGIVE for DocPitch at DocLands

ARTISTIC APPROACH / DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
IN PLAIN SIGHT combines multicamera interviews, observational verité, aerials, archival footage (including Amish's personal collections of photographs, handwritten letters, and home videos), and audio/visual artifacts from actual Amish sexual assault court cases, such as mugshots and police audio interviews with offenders.

Audiences get transported into this powerful story through gripping testimonials from Amish sexual assault survivors sharing their stories for the first time on camera and our cinematic prowess using a single handheld camera following our subjects. Throughout, we capitalize on the lightness and darkness that persist in Amish communities.

We see one of our subjects, 36-year-old Elizabeth — an Amish woman ostracized by her Indiana Amish community for reporting her rapist — as she drives her horse-drawn plow in her garden. She's barefoot, and her bonnet strings jerk in the wind as she is forced to push the plow forward in the dirt. Determination on her face.

Inside a Wisconsin courthouse, 19-year-old Katrina — a Mennonite woman who became suicidal after being sexually assaulted by a Mennonite man in her community — stares defiantly at her abuser as he walks past her into the courtroom, several Mennonite community members behind him for support. Minutes before, the camera had captured Katrina and Lizzy sitting in a car and rehearsing Katrina's victim impact statement, which Katrina will read aloud in court.

As the director and producer, I have creative control and own the story rights from my investigative article in Cosmopolitan magazine.

As the director, I started my investigative reporting on the Amish in 2018, wondering about the potential impact and ramifications that might come from making a feature film. But since the magazine article (on which the film is based) was published, public discourse continues to swell around #MeToo, and our country is now grappling with protecting women's access to reproductive rights and bodily autonomy. It is my belief that this film is timely and will have a deep and lasting impact on audiences for generations. Moreover, I want the film to affect social change, generate unexpected, new perspectives about the Amish, and illuminate the subjects as heroes and agents of change who were the first to speak truth to power in their communities when no one else would.

It's a worthwhile film for DocPitch at DocLands to get behind and lift up—this story deserves to be told. Given DocLands' history with impactful films like Navalny and The Territory, we envision DocLands as a critical partner in the success of this film.

CONNECTION, ACCESS, ACCOUNTABILITY
As investigative journalists and filmmakers, we aim to put a spotlight on the systemic problem of Amish sexual abuse, including the victim silencing and injustices felt by generations of Amish women and men.

As much as possible, the film has been a collaboration between us as the filmmakers and our Amish subjects. This ideal of giving our subjects agency and participation in their own stories was rooted in the investigative reporting process, which started in 2018.

At that time, I was an investigative journalist reporting on Amish child sexual abuse for Cosmopolitan magazine and Type Investigations. When I started, I heard about a "whisper network" of Amish women who wanted to expose allegations of a coverup of sexual abuse. I embedded with this network and flew from Los Angeles to Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Ohio, where I met with Amish women in their homes, churches, and safe houses (taking precautions to safeguard them from retaliation by the Amish church). I spent years uncovering 60-plus Amish sexual abuse court cases and speaking with law enforcement, judges, social workers, and concerned citizens. Everyone was eager to talk to me.

Now, four years into the film, my team and I have forged strong relationships with these women and men. We have gotten to know them personally and their families. Off-camera, my co-director, Jessie, and I have spent thousands of hours conversing with our subjects, who sometimes share with us what they hope audiences will take away from their stories.

We have the informed consent of all of our subjects. We have worked closely with our subjects and legal team to collect all the appearance, location, and materials releases required for the film. Notwithstanding, we spend time sitting down with our subjects before conducting an interview, we explain who we are, what the story is about, and are clear about our intentions with the film. Some subjects, like Lizzy, Katrina and Elizabeth, have gone through the legal process (police report, court proceedings) and have had professional counseling and access to victim support advocates. We also invite our subjects to invite a supportive friend or family member to be present when filming.

Those conversations evolve as sometimes they come back to us with additional questions. In one or more instances, we have adapted the language in our releases to support them. Nobody is pressured or coerced into filming without lengthy, heartfelt and open dialogue.

As co-directors, our team combines decades of experience as investigative journalists with an understanding of the professional, trauma-informed and care-intensive approach required to accomplish a film like IN PLAIN SIGHT. As the Director and journalist who originated the story and exposed an injustice through her reporting, it is a personal goal to stay mindful of our subjects’ journeys as survivors and to minimize risk and potential harm that can come from the filmmaking process.

Finally, I am a survivor of child sexual abuse and, in recent years, have begun to share my journey with some of the film subjects. My background has helped me relate to and gain my subjects' trust.

The Amish subjects in our film continue to express that working with us has created a path for them to get their stories out.