Private Violence

Opening Night

Screening followed by discussion with filmmaker Cynthia Hill, executive producer Gloria Steinem, and film subjects Kit Gruelle and Deanna Walters. Moderated by Liesl Gerntholtz, director Women’s Rights division, Human Rights Watch.

Private Violence explores a simple, but deeply disturbing fact of American life: the most dangerous place for a woman in America is her own home. Every day in the U.S., at least four women are murdered by abusive (and often, ex-) partners. Through the eyes of two survivors—Deanna Walters, a mother who seeks justice for the crimes committed against her at the hands of her estranged husband, and Kit Gruelle, an advocate who seeks justice for all women—we bear witness to the complex realities of intimate partner violence. Private Violence begins to shape powerful, new questions that hold the potential to change our society: “Why does he abuse?” “Why do we turn away?” “How do we begin to build a future without domestic violence?” An HBO Documentary Film release.