Groomed

During the time of the Stolen Generations, thousands upon thousands of Aboriginal girls were taken from their families and pressed into domestic servitude by the Australian Government. They were supposedly employed as servants, but with total control over their movements, wages and living conditions, their lives all too frequently became an inescapable cycle of abuse, rape and enslavement, with consequences that echo powerfully to this day. Recounting the stories of five of these women – Rita, Violet and the three Wenberg sisters – Servant or Slave is a commanding piece of first-person testimony to a dark and unacknowledged corner of Australian history. Shot with admirable craft and humanity by documentarian Steven McGregor (Croker Island Exodus, MIFF 2012), Servant or Slave is a work of great sadness and urgency, bringing to forceful life the human tragedy of Australia's Indigenous history in the unadorned words of those who lived it.

Since the beginning of her career, Sinéad O’Connor has used her powerful voice to challenge the narratives she was surrounded by while growing up in predominantly Roman Catholic Ireland. Despite her agency, depth and perspective, O’Connor’s unflinching refusal to conform means that she has often been patronized and unfairly dismissed as an attention-seeking pop star.

A photojournalist turns her lens on the decades of sexual abuse her family and community experienced at the hands of her grandfather in this unflinching portrait of intergenerational trauma, family secrets, and redemption.

BBC Africa Eye unravel a shocking journey into a maze of manipulation and terrifying atrocities, perpetrated by one of the most powerful religious figures of the 21st century. This investigation contains detailed first-person testimony and historical footage as it delves into the experiences of those who were wooed by the world-famous pastor into his religious cult, only to suffer devastating consequences. Twelve survivors go on record, speaking out together for the first time.

An examination of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, the film centres on Rod McLeod, a man who is suing the church for restitution after having been abused in childhood by priest William Hodgson “Hod” Marshall, and includes testimonial interviews from some of Marshall's other victims.

Religieuses abusées, l'autre scandale de l'Église

Suffering child abuse marks you, conditions you and limits you. But what's next? 7:11 Cuarzo is a documentary short film that delves into the consequences and shows us various ways of experiencing grief after suffering it: the aftermath, the path after breaking the silence and destroying the stigma. It talks about the treatment and care of wounds with testimonials from those who have suffered abuse and aggression. Learning to live again when the most precious thing, innocence, is taken from you.

An Oscar nominated documentary about a middle-class American family who is torn apart when the father Arnold and son Jesse are accused of sexually abusing numerous children. Director Jarecki interviews people from different sides of this tragic story and raises the question of whether they were rightfully tried when they claim they were innocent and there was never any evidence against them.

The inside story of the rise and fall of Harvey Weinstein reveals how, over decades, he acquired and protected his power even when scandal threatened to engulf him. Former colleagues and accusers detail the method and consequences of his alleged abuse, hoping for justice and also to inspire change.

A filmmaker unearths a pervasive history of multigenerational trauma in her Italian-American family. As decades of secrets, home movies, and long-avoided conversations surface, a family once bound by tradition forges a new path forward.

In 2016, French writer and photographer Carole Achache took her own life. After Carole's death, her daughter Mona Achache, a film director, discovers thousands of photos, letters and recordings that Carole left behind, but these buried secrets make her disappearance even more of an enigma. Through the power of filmmaking and the beauty of incarnation with the help of actress Marion Cotillard, the director brings her mother back to life to retrace her journey and find out who she really was.

She accused the leader of the Sandinista revolution of sexual abuse. Now he is president of Nicaragua and she lives in exile.

Polish documentary directed by Tomasz Sekielski about child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Poland.

Digging through the vast collection of his father's home videos, a young man reconstructs the unthinkable story of his boyhood and exposes vile abuse passed through generations.

La última muñeca

Celesta and Karen Davis grew up in a loving family. They shared many wonderful childhood moments and, at the time, thought it all was normal. But when Karen and Celesta were molested in 1978, little was being done about sexual abuse. Their parents' lack of action was neither questioned nor challenged, including years of continued social contact with the perpetrator, his wife and their two young children. Twenty-five years later, feeling unresolved, they begin their quest to find the man who took advantage of their innocence and to ask him something that has haunted them for almost their entire life: "Why?"

Sexually abused by her father from infancy to early adolescence, Shirley Turcotte is now in her thirties and has succeeded in building a rich and full life. To further reconcile her past and present, she is returning to the people and places of her childhood. Her mother, brothers and sister, all of whom were also caught up in the cycle of family violence, openly share their thoughts. Their frank disclosures will encourage survivors of incest to break through the silence and betrayal to recover and develop a sense of self-worth and dignity.

A BBCEye investigation into three K-pop stars who were sharing evidence of sexual crimes in secret chat groups.

This video presents the real-life case of 96-year-old Miss Mary, who was financially exploited and later, sexually assaulted by her grandson. Miss Mary had been living with her grandson and his wife for five years during which financial abuse took place. After the attack and hospitalization, she was placed in a nursing home under the name "Jane Doe" for safety reasons. However, she retained her strength of character, and fully participated in the subsequent trial and prosecution of her grandson.

They gave in. Or capitulated. They didn't want to have sex. They couldn't push back, to make them understand that no, they didn't want to. Some consider it part of the unpleasant yet inevitable experiences of youth. Others don't. For the first time, a film addresses this "gray" area of sexuality without consent.