10) The Hunting Ground
Another Best Documentary contender, Kirby Dick’s expose about rape on American college campuses is as timely as it is troubling. Though some of the public discussion it has birthed critiqued the film for being “alarmist,” the general consensus is that Dick has made an important and eye-opening look into an issue that troubles college students both directly, in the case of those who are victimized by sexual assault and afforded little support by their schools, and indirectly, with regard to the many who live in fear and feel, as the doc suggests, like prey while at school.
Expect the Academy to carefully consider The Hunting Ground – especially given the massive response that college students and teenagers (a demographic that the Academy desperately wants to stay connected with) had to the pic.