Bustle profiles Ziering, maker of several influential films—including The Invisible War, The Hunting Ground, On the Record and Allen v. Farrow—that address sexual assault.
The article, by Dana Getz, touches upon Ziering’s early life: her father was a Holocaust survivor, both of her parents engaged in philanthropy and political activism, and she began studying feminist theory at Amherst.
The article also describes the impact of Ziering’s documentaries, both on U.S. society and on the filmmaker herself. “The Invisible War led to sweeping policy change, five congressional hearings, and the passing of over 35 pieces of legislation,” Getz writes. “The Hunting Ground incited the introduction of three bills in U.S. Congress and 28 in state legislatures; On the Record opened the conversation about sexual assault to Black survivors long left out of it; and Allen v. Farrow spurred a nearly 20% increase in calls per week to RAINN, America’s largest anti-sexual violence organization.” And the process of creating the documentaries has led to an evolution in Ziering’s own understanding of the issue, while also leaving her with “secondary PTSD.”