The controversial documentary “An Open Secret” reveals pedophilia in Hollywood.
“What you see in the film is the tip of the iceberg” says producer Gabe Hoffman on An Open Secret, the documentary from Oscar-nominated director Amy Berg about child sex abuse in Hollywood.
A new documentary about the sexual abuse of children within Hollywood is hoping to reveal Hollywood’s dirtiest secret – an alleged network that implicates major industry figures.
‘An Open Secret’ was shown this at the Cannes Film Festival, and is directed by Oscar-nominated director Amy Berg, who previously explored pedophilia within the Catholic Church in ‘Deliver Us From Evil’.
The documentary features first hand accounts from young actors who suffered at the hands of managers, publicists and directors, while underage. In addition, the documentary receives input from investigative journalists and psychologists who present a collection of damaging evidence.
“What you see in the film is literally just the tip of the iceberg,” executive producer Gabe Hoffman claimed. “For every victim that’s in the film, there are another five or 10 with fact-checked, legitimate accounts who didn’t want to be identified.”
The movie covers several registered sex offenders that are still allowed to work within Hollywood. Including actor Brian Peck, who previously worked for Nickelodeon alongside director Bryan Singer on X-Men and X-Men 2; Peck was convicted of two counts of lewd acts with a child but, Peck is still working in Hollywood.
“Why is he still working on a studio lot when he’s a convicted pedophile?” Valentinas said.
“Who is checking that? Who is doing the hiring?” Hoffman followed: “We want journalists to ask every single major studio: ‘Why would you allow any convicted pedophile to work in any form with your organization, period? Why are they any part of what you would ever do?’”
The documentary also explores the case of Marty Weiss, a youth-talent manager who was convicted of two charges against Evan Henzi, who alleged that Weiss assaulted him between 30 and 50 times over a five year period. Weiss ended up serving just six months in prison.
“I’m angry at the legal system.” Henzi, now 21, said. “I’m starting to understand exactly what happened to me because if I keep it in my head, I’m so confused all the time. I blamed myself and felt guilty. Going back to the beginning, I realized that was not the case and it was just me trying to believe that everyone was good in the world and knew better than me. Now that I’m older, I know it was just sick. You don’t have sex with an 11-year-old kid.”
The aim of the film is to help victims of abuse and prevent them from suffering from psychological issues. In addition to imposing stricter laws and penalties for convicted sex offenders.
But the content of the film, which covers alleged drug parties laid on by a group of connected older men to seduce and intoxicate underage actors as well as more personalized stories of abuse, has led to difficulties getting people to see the movie.
The production was banned from several major film festivals, including London, and the movie has struggled to find distribution. The movie will get a small release in 20 major cities, in hopes to reach a wider audience.
Source: The Guardian
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