Roll Red Roll

2018 American film

Roll Red Roll

Theatrical release poster

Directed by| Nancy Schwartzman
Produced by| Jessica Devaney
Steven Lake
Nancy Schwartzman
Maxyne Franklin
Cinematography| Matt Bockelman
Music by| Nima Fakhrara

Production
companies

* Sunset Park Pictures
* JustFilms/Ford Foundation
* Bertha Doc Society
* Fork Films
* Artemis Rising Foundation
* Chicken & Egg Pictures
* Tribeca Film Institute

Distributed by|

* Together Films
* POV

Release dates

* April 22, 2018 (2018-04-22) (Tribeca)
* March 22, 2019 (2019-03-22) (United States)

Running time

| 80 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English

Roll Red Roll is a 2018 American documentary film, directed and produced by Nancy Schwartzman. It follows the Steubenville High School rape case.[1]

The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 22, 2018. It was released in a limited release on March 22, 2019, by Together Films, prior to its debut on POV on PBS on June 17, 2019.

## Plot

[edit]

The documentary looks into the Steubenville High School rape case that occurred in August 2012. It also documents Alexandria Goddard's investigation and documentation of the crimes through her true crime blog.[2]

## Cast

[edit]

* Alexandria Goddard
* Rachel Dissell
* J.P. Rigaud

## Release

[edit]

The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 22, 2018.[3] In February 2019, Together Films acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film, while POV acquired broadcast distribution rights to the film.[4] The film was released in a limited release on March 22, 2019, prior to its debut on POV on PBS on June 17, 2019.[5][6]

## Reception

[edit]

### Critical response

[edit]

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 100%, based on 29 reviews, with an average of 8.3/10.[7] Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score, rates the film 83 out of 100, based on 9 reviews, indicating "Universal acclaim".[8]

Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times wrote, "A tough but essential watch, “Roll Red Roll” documents how a sexual assault in a declining Appalachian town became an international cause célèbre."[9] Owen Gleiberman of Variety wrote, "... piercingly relevant and disturbing documentary about an infamous high school rape case...".[10] Oliver Jones of The Observer wrote, "And while it is good that a director as versed on the subject of consent as Schwartzman is bringing her unwavering eye to the problem, it makes it all the more painful that we seem even further away from solving the issue then we were on that fateful August night in Ohio seven years ago."[11] Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "Difficult to watch, but essential viewing."[12]

### Accolades

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Year  | Award  | Category  | Result  | Refs.

|
|
|
|

2018  | Nantucket Film Festival | Adrienne Shelley Excellence in Filmmaking Award  | Won  | [13]
Monmouth Film Festival  | Best Feature Documentary  | Won  | [14]
Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival  | Clio Visualizing History Award  | Won  | [15]
BendFilm Festival  | Best Feature  | Won  | [16]
Chagrin Documentary Film Festival | Best Film  | Won  | [17]
2019  | Cinema Eye Honors Awards, US | Spotlight Award  | Nominated  | [18]
Cleveland International Film Festival  | Local Heroes Competition  | Nominated  | [19]
Excellence in Directing by a Woman  | Nominated

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Cipriani, Casey (25 March 2019). "This New Steubenville Rape Case Doc Aims To Open Men's Eyes To Rape Culture". Bustle. Retrieved 2019-03-27.
2. ^ Forde, Kaelyn (March 21, 2019). "How One Crime Blogger Helped Expose the Steubenville High School Rape". Inside Edition. Retrieved July 7, 2019.
3. ^ "Roll Red Roll". Tribeca Film Festival. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
4. ^ Day-Ramos, Dino (February 12, 2019). "Together Films Sets Theatrical Launch For 'Roll Red Roll'; Docu To Kick Off 32nd Season Of POV On PBS". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
5. ^ Wissot, Lauren (March 26, 2019). "Doc Star of the Month: Alexandria Goddard, 'Roll Red Roll'". International Documentary Association. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
6. ^ "Roll Red Roll". PBS. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
7. ^ "Roll Red Roll (2018)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
8. ^ "Roll Red Roll". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
9. ^ Catsoulis, Jeannette (2019-03-21). "'Roll Red Roll' Review: A Horrifying Assault in a Small Ohio Town". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-03-27.
10. ^ Gleiberman, Owen (2019-03-22). "Film Review: 'Roll Red Roll'". Variety. Retrieved 2019-03-27.
11. ^ "Little Has Been Done to Address Campus Sexual Assault, Documentary 'Red Red Roll' Reminds". Observer. 2019-03-22. Retrieved 2019-03-27.
12. ^ Scheck, Frank (April 29, 2018). "'Roll Red Roll': Film Review | Tribeca 2018". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
13. ^ "Awards". Nantucket Film Festival. Retrieved 2019-03-27.
14. ^ "Monmouth Film Festival | 2018 Winners". Film Festival | United States | Monmouth Film Festival. Retrieved 2019-03-27.
15. ^ "THE 2018 VTEDDY AWARDS". Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival. Retrieved 2019-03-27.
16. ^ "BendFilm 2018 Short and Feature Film Awards". BENDFILM. 2018-10-14. Retrieved 2019-03-27.
17. ^ Roll Red Roll - IMDb, retrieved 2019-03-27
18. ^ "Spotlight Award Archives". The 2019 Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking. Retrieved 2019-03-27.
19. ^ "Films A-Z - Cleveland International Film Festival :: March 27 - April 7, 2019". www.clevelandfilm.org. Retrieved 2019-03-27.

## External links

[edit]

* Roll Red Roll at IMDb
* Roll Red Roll at Rotten Tomatoes
* Roll Red Roll at AllMovie
* Alexandria Goddard website (archived) - "Steubenville rape case" section