Coleman documentary premiers at Sundance
A documentary by a pair of California filmmakers exploring the aftermath of the Daisy Coleman sexual assault case, which became national news following an alleged attack at a teenage house party in Maryville in January 2012, premiered this week at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
“Audrie & Daisy,” by San Francisco filmmakers Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk, tells the stories of both Coleman, who was a 14-year-old Maryville High School student at the time of the incident, and Audrie Pott, a Saratoga (California) High School sophomore who committed suicide after she was sexually assaulted at an alcohol-fueled gathering taking place that same year.
A film crew working on the project was in Maryville several months ago and interviewed a number of residents, including former Mayor Jim Fall, who serves as executive editor of the Maryville Daily Forum.
The Coleman case prompted protests and widespread media coverage after Nodaway County Prosecuting Attorney Robert Rice dropped felony charges against the male teen suspects, an action that resulted in the appointment of a special prosecutor.
In May 2014, then-19-year-old Matt Barnett, one of the boys at the party, pleaded guilty in the associate division of Nodaway County Circuit Court to a single misdemeanor count of endangering the welfare of a child, ending criminal proceedings in the case.
Barnett was sentenced to four months in the Nodaway County jail, given a suspended sentence, and placed on two years’ supervised probation.
According to reviews and news reports, the film, which has been acquired by Netflix for global release this year, portrays Coleman as having been drinking heavily when she was allegedly attacked at the party then left outside her Maryville home on a bitterly cold night.
The Cohen and Shenk documentary also claims that Coleman and her family were subjected to humiliation via social media after trying to press charges, and reports that the home Coleman shared with her mother, Melinda Coleman, was destroyed by fire after the family moved to the northwest Missouri town of Albany in Gentry County.
One reviewer states that Coleman’s story strikes a hopeful note as she begins to heal after a young abuse survivor reaches out to offer support.
