Canadian documentary looks at Weinstein scandal

TORONTO (CP) — Just six months after the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke and triggered a flood of sexual misconduct allegations as well as the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements, a Canadian documentary examining the saga is set to make its debut.

“The Reckoning: Hollywood's Worst Kept Secret,” directed by Montreal-born filmmaker Barry Avrich and produced by Melissa Hood of Toronto, will screen April 28 and May 5 as part of the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.

"The purpose of the film was to immortalize a debate and a time in history, an era, in the face of social media that is, I think in a lot of ways, undermining a lot of the accusations," said Avrich, whose other projects include the 2011 documentary “Unauthorized: The Harvey Weinstein Project.”

Billed as “a definitive film about the abuse of power in a complicit culture,” the doc has interviews with several actresses who’ve come forward with sexual misconduct allegations against Weinstein, filmmaker James Toback and others. Those actresses include Katherine Kendall and Melissa Sagemiller.

It also has interviews with journalists, agents, psychologists, former Miramax employees and lawyers as it looks at the debates surrounding such allegations, the impact of these cases, and the systemic and cultural issues leading to harassment.

Also among the interviewees is Dylan Farrow, filmmaker Woody Allen’s adopted daughter who alleges he molested her in 1992 when she was 7. Allen was investigated but not charged.

Hood said Farrow’s story “highlights some of the contradictions and the complexities” of the Time's Up movement when it comes to supporting certain alleged victims and not others, or separating the art from the artist.