What did you set out to accomplish that Anita's memoir or Jill Abramson and Jane Mayer's formidable book Strange Justice didn't? You know, sexual harassment was never really discussed before Anita's testimony, officially or publicly. Well, it makes sense that anyone who wasn't a certain age in 1991 would know about the hearings, but that's who should see this film! When I set out to make the film, I wanted to look at the impact 20 years later. Speaking of cultural zeitgeist, there are so many people who don't know who Anita Hill is. I mean the idea of being a filmmaker was not exactly in their cultural zeitgeist. My mom helped him and raised kids, but my parents were immigrants. I'm curious if your folks were artists or artistic? Your husband, Terry Sanders, your daughter Jessica, and your brother-in-law have all won Oscars. The Senate Judiciary Committee members grilled Hill for nine hours, asking her to repeat salacious details, like how Thomas referred to his penis as Long Duck Dong, but did not call experts or corroborating witnesses. In Anita: Speaking Truth to Power, Mock chronicles how a black female professor testified in 1991 before 14 white male Senators, that she had faced sexual harassment by her former boss (and then Supreme Court Justice nominee) Clarence Thomas. Mock's forte is profiling individuals who make the world a better place, be it Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner, G-Dog, a Jesuit Priest who created Home Boys, a now legendary gang rehab program, or, her latest subject, Anita Hill, who forced Congress to address sexual harassment in the work place. After 25 years, however, the financial and logistical challenges of indie filmmaking haven't left her jaded. Even with a heap of Oscar, Emmy, and Sundance awards, documentary filmmaker Frieda Lee Mock says she still hustles for funding.
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