Ohio State sexual abuse documentary premieres at prestigious film festival

Yahoo

17 hours ago

NEW YORK CITY (WCMH) – Survivors of Ohio State University sexual predator Dr. Richard Strauss are coming together Monday in New York City.
The HBO documentary detailing the team doctor's 20 years of abusing young male athletes will get its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival.
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The film is called 'Surviving Ohio State,' and many of the survivors featured in the film were first interviewed by NBC4's Colleen Marshall and photographer Steve Wainfor for the award-winning series of reports, 'Culture of Cover-up.'
Marshall, who was interviewed for the documentary, is in Manhattan for the premiere.
'Surviving Ohio State' is one of 118 films selected for the Tribeca Film Festival from out of nearly 14,000 submissions.
The survivors of Strauss kept quiet for decades, internalizing their trauma, but back in 2018, they started talking.
'He molested me the same way that he did others, and a lot of intimidation,' survivor Steven Snyder Hill said.
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'We would see Dr. Strauss coming out of the showers and he would see us coming down the stairs, and he would turn, go right back into the showers, stay in there from the first guy to the last guy,' survivor Dan Richie said.
'Every day, I'm thinking, 'Holy ****, did these people not have kids? Do these people not have hearts or souls,'' another survivor said. 'There's a special place for these people and it's not heaven. For those that knew, I mean, they knew, Colleen.'
One by one, survivors shared their anguished stories as they described being sexually abused, even being drugged and raped by Strauss. But they also shared their anger as they learned the Strauss assaults lasted for nearly 20 years, and they said university leaders, even their own coaches, knew.
Now, the stories they shared will be on the big screen, and in one week, available across the country on HBO MAX.
Snyder Hill was the student who persistently complained about Strauss back in 1995 until the university allowed the doctor to retire, with a pension and emeritus status. He is also one of hundreds of survivors in federal lawsuits against the university, accusing Ohio State leaders of turning a blind eye to what Strauss was doing.
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Kent Kirkland is not in the documentary, and is telling his story for the first time. He flew to New York from Florida with his wife to see the movie because he is a Strauss victim and now part of this brotherhood of survivors.
'Surviving Ohio State' is a two-hour film and will be shown in two different theaters Monday and Tuesday nights as part of the 12-day film festival. Film critics and members of the public will watch the movie, and then there will be a question-and-answer session with Academy Award-winning director Eva Orner.
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