SAAM MEDIA LIBRARY
Movies + Films.
Explore documentaries, dramas, survivor stories, investigative films, and other movies that depict sexual assault, rape, sexual exploitation, trafficking, grooming, institutional abuse, and related forms of sexual violence.
Start with our 30 SAAM Film Picks or browse the full comprehensive film library.
COMPREHENSIVE FILM COLLECTION
Watch with awareness.
The collection includes documentaries, narrative films, historical dramas, biographical stories, investigative work, and films useful for survivor-centered education and discussion.
TRIGGER WARNING
Please take care while exploring these resources.
All books, movies, TV series, music, and more all depict sexual assault and rape in some form. If at any time any of these become triggering or difficult to view please reach out to us at 1-866-828-7273, an advocate is available 24/7 to speak with you and provide you resources or a listening ear.
24/7 Helpline: 1-866-828-7273FEATURED WATCH LIST
30 SAAM Film Picks.
These featured selections provide a more manageable starting point for Sexual Assault Awareness Month programming, professional discussion, classroom use, or personal learning.
Victim/Suspect
Rape; false-report myths; policing; criminal justiceWhy feature it: Investigates cases in which women who reported sexual assault were instead accused or charged with false reporting.
Content / Screening Note: Sexual assault descriptions; police interviews; institutional betrayal
View Film / Learn More →I Am Evidence
Rape kits; forensic evidence; justice system; survivor rightsWhy feature it: Investigates untested sexual assault kits and the consequences for survivors and public safety.
Content / Screening Note: Sexual assault testimony; forensic evidence
View Film / Learn More →The Hunting Ground
Campus sexual assault; institutional betrayal; Title IXWhy feature it: Examines sexual assault on U.S. college campuses and institutional responses to reports.
Content / Screening Note: Sexual assault testimony; institutional betrayal
View Film / Learn More →Roll Red Roll
Sexual assault; rape culture; image-based abuse; bystander cultureWhy feature it: Examines the Steubenville rape case and how peers, social media and community culture shaped the response.
Content / Screening Note: Sexual assault; digital images; victim blaming
View Film / Learn More →Audrie & Daisy
Teen sexual assault; image-based abuse; cyberbullying; suicideWhy feature it: Examines two teen sexual assault cases and the online abuse that followed.
Content / Screening Note: Sexual assault; images; cyberbullying; suicide
View Film / Learn More →Athlete A
Child sexual abuse; medical sexual abuse; sports; institutional betrayalWhy feature it: Examines Larry Nassar’s abuse of gymnasts and the reporting that exposed failures at USA Gymnastics.
Content / Screening Note: Sexual abuse of minors; medical abuse; survivor testimony
View Film / Learn More →At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal
Child sexual abuse; medical sexual abuse; sportsWhy feature it: Survivors describe abuse by Larry Nassar and the systems that enabled him.
Content / Screening Note: Sexual abuse of minors; medical setting
View Film / Learn More →Surviving Ohio State
Male survivors; medical sexual abuse; sports; institutional betrayalWhy feature it: Male former student-athletes describe abuse by Ohio State physician Richard Strauss and the institutional culture that allowed it to continue.
Content / Screening Note: Sexual abuse; medical setting; survivor testimony
View Film / Learn More →Black Box Diaries
Rape; reporting; criminal justice; media; survivor advocacyWhy feature it: Journalist Shiori Ito documents her investigation of her own rape allegation and the barriers she encountered in Japan’s legal and social systems.
Content / Screening Note: Detailed discussion of rape; legal and media response
View Film / Learn More →Silent Beauty
Child sexual abuse; family silence; healing; generational traumaWhy feature it: Filmmaker Jasmín Mara López confronts childhood sexual abuse and a family culture of silence while documenting healing.
Content / Screening Note: Child sexual abuse; family disclosures; trauma
View Film / Learn More →Great Photo, Lovely Life: Facing a Family’s Secrets
Child sexual abuse; incest/familial abuse; intergenerational traumaWhy feature it: A photojournalist investigates sexual abuse committed by her grandfather and the family systems that enabled silence.
Content / Screening Note: Child sexual abuse; family confrontation; trauma
View Film / Learn More →Rewind
Child sexual abuse; grooming; family systems; male survivorWhy feature it: A filmmaker uses family videos and interviews to investigate his own childhood sexual abuse and the adults who failed to protect him.
Content / Screening Note: Child sexual abuse; grooming; family betrayal
View Film / Learn More →Procession
Child sexual abuse; clergy abuse; male survivors; healingWhy feature it: Six men abused by Catholic clergy collaborate with filmmakers to recreate memories and reclaim agency.
Content / Screening Note: Child sexual abuse; reenactments; trauma
View Film / Learn More →Scouts Honor: The Secret Files of the Boy Scouts of America
Child sexual abuse; grooming; institutional cover-up; male survivorsWhy feature it: Survivors and whistleblowers examine decades of sexual abuse and concealment within the Boy Scouts of America.
Content / Screening Note: Child sexual abuse; survivor testimony; institutional betrayal
View Film / Learn More →Roleplay
Campus sexual violence; consent; rape culture; preventionWhy feature it: College students create theater from their experiences and conversations about consent, power, identity and campus sexual violence.
Content / Screening Note: Sexual violence discussions; survivor disclosures
View Film / Learn More →Loud Enough: Surviving Justice
Sexual assault; prosecution; survivor advocacy; justice reformWhy feature it: Follows Madison Smith and her family as they pursue accountability after prosecutors initially decline to charge her attacker.
Content / Screening Note: Sexual assault; legal system; trauma
View Film / Learn More →Another Body
Deepfake pornography; image-based sexual abuse; technology-facilitated violenceWhy feature it: Follows a college student seeking answers and justice after discovering nonconsensual deepfake pornography of herself online.
Content / Screening Note: Image-based sexual abuse; digital harassment; explicit-image discussion
View Film / Learn More →Cyber Hell: Exposing an Internet Horror
Online sexual exploitation; coercion; image-based abuse; trafficking-like exploitationWhy feature it: Examines South Korea’s Nth Room network, where women and girls were coerced into creating sexual material distributed through paid chat rooms.
Content / Screening Note: Sexual exploitation; coercion; digital abuse; minors
View Film / Learn More →Sextortion: The Hidden Pandemic
Online grooming; sextortion; child sexual exploitationWhy feature it: Explores online grooming and sextortion tactics and the impact on young people and families.
Content / Screening Note: Child sexual exploitation; suicide discussion; online coercion
View Film / Learn More →Sex Trafficking in America
Domestic sex trafficking; child sexual exploitation; coercive controlWhy feature it: FRONTLINE follows survivors and a Phoenix police unit responding to sex trafficking of girls and young women in the U.S.
Content / Screening Note: Sex trafficking; child exploitation; abuse
View Film / Learn More →I Am Jane Doe
Child sex trafficking; online platforms; legal accountabilityWhy feature it: Follows families fighting online classified site Backpage over allegations that it facilitated sex trafficking of minors.
Content / Screening Note: Child sex trafficking; exploitation; legal cases
View Film / Learn More →Surviving Sex Trafficking
Sex trafficking; sexual exploitation; survivor healingWhy feature it: Survivors of sex trafficking describe exploitation and the long process of rebuilding their lives.
Content / Screening Note: Sex trafficking; sexual abuse; trauma
View Film / Learn More →The Rape of Recy Taylor
Rape; racial violence; Jim Crow; survivor advocacyWhy feature it: Documents Recy Taylor’s 1944 gang rape by white men and the Black women who organized for justice.
Content / Screening Note: Rape; racist violence; historical injustice
View Film / Learn More →NO! The Rape Documentary
Sexual violence against Black women; community response; healingWhy feature it: Centers Black women’s experiences of rape and sexual assault and challenges silence within communities and institutions.
Content / Screening Note: Rape testimony; racism; community response
View Film / Learn More →Brave Miss World
Rape; survivor advocacy; healingWhy feature it: Follows former Miss World Linor Abargil’s advocacy after surviving rape and her efforts to support other survivors.
Content / Screening Note: Rape testimony; trauma; healing
View Film / Learn More →The Light of the Moon
Rape; trauma responses; relationships; recoveryWhy feature it: Follows a woman through the immediate and longer-term aftermath of rape, including relationships, work and recovery.
Content / Screening Note: Rape; trauma; relationship strain
View Film / Learn More →Test Pattern
Sexual assault; drug-facilitated assault; healthcare response; raceWhy feature it: A Black woman and her partner encounter barriers while trying to obtain a rape kit after a sexual assault.
Content / Screening Note: Sexual assault; intoxication; healthcare barriers
View Film / Learn More →How to Have Sex
Consent; coercion; sexual assault; peer pressureWhy feature it: Examines a teen holiday where peer pressure and a sexual encounter illuminate the difference between participation and freely given consent.
Content / Screening Note: Sexual assault/coercion; alcohol; teen sexuality
View Film / Learn More →Women Talking
Rape; drug-facilitated assault; community accountability; faithWhy feature it: Women in an isolated religious colony debate how to respond after discovering years of drug-facilitated rapes.
Content / Screening Note: Rape; child sexual abuse references; faith; trauma
View Film / Learn More →Sorry, Baby
Sexual assault; trauma; healing; disclosureWhy feature it: Follows a graduate student living through the aftermath of sexual assault and the uneven ways life continues around her.
Content / Screening Note: Sexual assault; trauma responses; institutional response
View Film / Learn More →COMPREHENSIVE FILM LIBRARY
Browse the full collection.
The comprehensive catalog includes 203 films. Use the A–Z navigation to jump through the collection. Each listing includes a poster-image option and a source link where available.
12 Years a Slave
SAAM Focus: Sexual violence in slavery; coercion; racialized sexual abuse
How it appears: Direct/strongly implied exploitation
Depicts the sexual exploitation and rape of enslaved women as part of chattel slavery.
Content Notes: Rape; slavery; torture; racist violence
View Film / Learn More →3096 Days
SAAM Focus: Kidnapping; child sexual abuse; captivity; coercive control
How it appears: Direct/strongly implied
Based on Natascha Kampusch’s abduction and years of captivity and abuse.
Content Notes: Child abduction; sexual abuse; captivity
View Film / Learn More →9 to 5
SAAM Focus: Sexual harassment; workplace sexism; empowerment
How it appears: Harassment; satire
Uses comedy to address workplace sexual harassment, gender discrimination and women organizing against an abusive boss.
Content Notes: Sexual harassment; dated humor
View Film / Learn More →A Teacher
SAAM Focus: Teacher-student sexual abuse; statutory rape; grooming
How it appears: Adult/minor sexual relationship
Focuses on a female teacher’s sexual relationship with a male student and the obsessive power dynamics involved.
Content Notes: Adult/minor sexual relationship; male minor
View Film / Learn More →A Time to Kill
SAAM Focus: Child rape; racial violence; legal response
How it appears: Off-screen/aftermath; trial
A legal drama centered on the rape of a Black child and the murder of her alleged attackers by her father.
Content Notes: Child rape; racist violence; graphic discussion
View Film / Learn More →Abducted in Plain Sight
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; grooming; kidnapping; family manipulation
How it appears: Survivor/family testimony
Examines how a trusted family friend groomed a child and manipulated her family, leading to repeated abductions and sexual abuse.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse; grooming; kidnapping
View Film / Learn More →An American Crime
SAAM Focus: Sexual abuse/humiliation; child torture; exploitation
How it appears: Direct/strongly implied abuse
Dramatizes the Sylvia Likens case, including sexual humiliation and severe abuse.
Content Notes: Severe child abuse; sexual humiliation; torture
View Film / Learn More →An Education
SAAM Focus: Grooming; adult-teen relationship; deception
How it appears: Power imbalance / grooming
A schoolgirl is drawn into a relationship with a much older man who manipulates and deceives her.
Content Notes: Adult/minor relationship; grooming dynamics
View Film / Learn More →An Open Secret
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; grooming; Hollywood; institutional silence
How it appears: Survivor testimony; investigation
Examines allegations of sexual abuse of boys in the entertainment industry and failures to protect young performers.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse; grooming; male survivors
View Film / Learn More →Anita: Speaking Truth to Power
SAAM Focus: Sexual harassment; workplace power; public credibility
How it appears: Historical survivor account
Revisits Anita Hill’s testimony about sexual harassment and the political attacks on her credibility.
Content Notes: Sexual harassment descriptions; public scrutiny
View Film / Learn More →Another Body
SAAM Focus: Deepfake pornography; image-based sexual abuse; technology-facilitated violence
How it appears: Survivor investigation; advocacy
Follows a college student seeking answers and justice after discovering nonconsensual deepfake pornography of herself online.
Content Notes: Image-based sexual abuse; digital harassment; explicit-image discussion
View Film / Learn More →As If I Am Not There
SAAM Focus: Conflict-related sexual violence; rape camp; captivity
How it appears: Graphic direct depiction
A woman is imprisoned in a rape camp during the Bosnian War.
Content Notes: Graphic rape; war crimes; captivity
View Film / Learn More →At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; medical sexual abuse; sports
How it appears: Survivor testimony; investigation
Survivors describe abuse by Larry Nassar and the systems that enabled him.
Content Notes: Sexual abuse of minors; medical setting
View Film / Learn More →Athlete A
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; medical sexual abuse; sports; institutional betrayal
How it appears: Survivor testimony; journalism
Examines Larry Nassar’s abuse of gymnasts and the reporting that exposed failures at USA Gymnastics.
Content Notes: Sexual abuse of minors; medical abuse; survivor testimony
View Film / Learn More →Audrie & Daisy
SAAM Focus: Teen sexual assault; image-based abuse; cyberbullying; suicide
How it appears: Survivor/family testimony; digital evidence
Examines two teen sexual assault cases and the online abuse that followed.
Content Notes: Sexual assault; images; cyberbullying; suicide
View Film / Learn More →Baby God
SAAM Focus: Fertility fraud; nonconsensual insemination; medical abuse
How it appears: Investigation; family testimony
Investigates fertility doctor Quincy Fortier and allegations of inseminating patients with his own sperm without consent.
Content Notes: Reproductive/medical abuse; family discovery
View Film / Learn More →Bad Education
SAAM Focus: Clergy sexual abuse; child sexual abuse; male survivor; exploitation
How it appears: Memory/reenactment; survivor aftermath
Pedro Almodóvar’s drama explores childhood sexual abuse by clergy, identity and the long-term effects on male survivors.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse; drugs; violence; complex chronology
View Film / Learn More →Barbarian
SAAM Focus: Sexual violence; forced reproduction; incest; captivity
How it appears: Backstory/reveal; threat
Horror plot ultimately reveals generations of rape, captivity and forced reproduction.
Content Notes: Sexual violence; incest; forced reproduction; gore
View Film / Learn More →Bastard Out of Carolina
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; incest/familial abuse; domestic violence
How it appears: Direct depiction; family response
A girl experiences sexual abuse by her stepfather amid poverty, family loyalty and violence.
Content Notes: Graphic child sexual abuse; domestic violence
View Film / Learn More →Belly of the Beast
SAAM Focus: Forced sterilization; reproductive coercion; incarcerated women
How it appears: Investigation; survivor advocacy
Investigates involuntary sterilizations and reproductive abuse affecting incarcerated women in California.
Content Notes: Forced sterilization; incarceration; medical abuse
View Film / Learn More →Beyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal
SAAM Focus: Sexual assault allegations; harassment; abuse of power
How it appears: Documentary overview
Reviews the Weinstein scandal and its role in the broader #MeToo movement.
Content Notes: Sexual assault/harassment allegations
View Film / Learn More →Black Box Diaries
SAAM Focus: Rape; reporting; criminal justice; media; survivor advocacy
How it appears: First-person investigation; survivor testimony
Journalist Shiori Ito documents her investigation of her own rape allegation and the barriers she encountered in Japan’s legal and social systems.
Content Notes: Detailed discussion of rape; legal and media response
View Film / Learn More →Bombshell
SAAM Focus: Sexual harassment; coercion; abuse of power
How it appears: Workplace harassment; disclosure
Dramatizes women at Fox News confronting sexual harassment and abuse of power.
Content Notes: Sexual harassment; coercion; workplace retaliation
View Film / Learn More →Boy Erased
SAAM Focus: Sexual assault; outing; conversion therapy; religious abuse
How it appears: Assault and aftermath
A young man is sexually assaulted by another man and later sent to conversion therapy after being outed.
Content Notes: Sexual assault; conversion therapy; religious trauma
View Film / Learn More →Boys Don’t Cry
SAAM Focus: Rape; anti-trans violence; hate crime
How it appears: Graphic direct depiction; aftermath
Dramatizes the rape and murder of Brandon Teena, a transgender man, and the failures around his case.
Content Notes: Graphic rape; anti-trans violence; murder
View Film / Learn More →Brave Miss World
SAAM Focus: Rape; survivor advocacy; healing
How it appears: First-person survivor journey
Follows former Miss World Linor Abargil’s advocacy after surviving rape and her efforts to support other survivors.
Content Notes: Rape testimony; trauma; healing
View Film / Learn More →Bring Her Home
SAAM Focus: MMIW/MMIP; trafficking/sexual violence vulnerability; advocacy
How it appears: Family/community advocacy
Follows Indigenous women working to raise awareness and change responses to missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
Content Notes: Murder/disappearance; sexual violence context; grief
View Film / Learn More →By the Grace of God
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; clergy abuse; survivor advocacy
How it appears: Adult survivor investigation
Based on French survivors who organized after learning that a priest accused of abusing them remained in ministry.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse descriptions; faith/institutional betrayal
View Film / Learn More →Casualties of War
SAAM Focus: Gang rape; war crimes; bystander intervention
How it appears: Graphic direct depiction; reporting
Based on the abduction, gang rape and murder of a Vietnamese civilian by U.S. soldiers and one soldier’s attempt to report it.
Content Notes: Graphic gang rape; murder; war violence
View Film / Learn More →Caught in the Net
SAAM Focus: Online grooming; child sexual exploitation; sexual solicitation
How it appears: Undercover experiment / prevention
Adult actresses pose online as 12-year-old girls, documenting sexual solicitation and grooming by adult men.
Content Notes: Sexual solicitation of minors; explicit messages; grooming
View Film / Learn More →Children of God
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; sexual exploitation; cult abuse
How it appears: Documentary investigation
Examines sexual abuse and exploitation within the Children of God religious movement.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse; cult exploitation
View Film / Learn More →Children of God: Lost and Found
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; cult abuse; survivor aftermath; institutional harm
How it appears: Former-member testimony; survivor aftermath
A former Children of God member follows young adults who left the movement and examines the lasting effects of childhood abuse and exploitation.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse; cult trauma; suicide/murder references
View Film / Learn More →Citation
SAAM Focus: Attempted rape; campus sexual harassment; abuse of power; institutional response
How it appears: Attempted assault; reporting
A Nigerian graduate student reports a professor for attempted rape and confronts institutional barriers.
Content Notes: Attempted rape; harassment; institutional retaliation
View Film / Learn More →Cleveland Abduction
SAAM Focus: Kidnapping; rape; captivity; forced pregnancy
How it appears: Direct/strongly implied; survivor solidarity
Dramatizes Michelle Knight and other women held captive and sexually abused by Ariel Castro.
Content Notes: Rape; captivity; pregnancy; torture
View Film / Learn More →Compliance
SAAM Focus: Coercion; sexual humiliation; sexual assault; authority abuse
How it appears: Direct coercive abuse
Based on a hoax-call case in which workplace authority was manipulated to coerce a young employee into degrading and sexual acts.
Content Notes: Sexual humiliation; coercion; nudity
View Film / Learn More →Confirmation
SAAM Focus: Sexual harassment; public testimony; credibility
How it appears: Dramatized hearing
Dramatizes Anita Hill’s allegations and the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings.
Content Notes: Sexual harassment testimony; public attacks
View Film / Learn More →Cyber Hell: Exposing an Internet Horror
SAAM Focus: Online sexual exploitation; coercion; image-based abuse; trafficking-like exploitation
How it appears: Investigation; survivor accounts
Examines South Korea’s Nth Room network, where women and girls were coerced into creating sexual material distributed through paid chat rooms.
Content Notes: Sexual exploitation; coercion; digital abuse; minors
View Film / Learn More →Deliver Us from Evil
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; clergy abuse; institutional cover-up
How it appears: Survivor testimony; offender interview
Examines a Catholic priest who abused children and the church officials who moved him between parishes.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse; offender discussion; clergy cover-up
View Film / Learn More →Disclosure
SAAM Focus: Sexual harassment; coercion; male target; workplace power
How it appears: Direct harassment/coercion
A male employee accuses a female executive of sexual harassment, useful for discussing power and gender stereotypes though the film is dated.
Content Notes: Sexual coercion; workplace retaliation
View Film / Learn More →Disconnect
SAAM Focus: Online sexual exploitation; grooming; coercion; image-based harm
How it appears: Exploitation storyline
Includes a teenage boy performing sexual acts online for an adult-run site and other digital exploitation storylines.
Content Notes: Sexual exploitation of minor; cyberbullying; suicide attempt
View Film / Learn More →Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes
SAAM Focus: Sexual harassment; abuse of power; media institutions
How it appears: Investigation; survivor accounts
Examines Roger Ailes’s career and sexual harassment allegations that contributed to his fall at Fox News.
Content Notes: Sexual harassment allegations; workplace power
View Film / Learn More →Dogville
SAAM Focus: Sexual exploitation; rape; coercive community abuse
How it appears: Direct/strongly implied repeated abuse
A woman seeking refuge is progressively exploited, coerced and raped by members of a small community.
Content Notes: Rape; exploitation; violence
View Film / Learn More →Dolores Claiborne
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; incest; protective parent; trauma
How it appears: Disclosure/flashback
A woman’s memories reveal her father’s sexual abuse and her mother’s efforts to protect her.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse; domestic violence; murder
View Film / Learn More →Don’t Breathe
SAAM Focus: Reproductive sexual violence; forced insemination; captivity
How it appears: Threat/attempt; disturbing reveal
Includes a plot involving kidnapping and attempted forced insemination, relevant to reproductive sexual violence.
Content Notes: Forced insemination threat; captivity; violence
View Film / Learn More →Doubt
SAAM Focus: Suspected child sexual abuse; clergy; institutional power
How it appears: Allegation / ambiguity
A nun suspects a priest of sexually abusing a student, creating discussion about evidence, institutions and credibility.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse allegation; ambiguity
View Film / Learn More →Dreamcatcher
SAAM Focus: Commercial sexual exploitation; sex work; trafficking; survivor-led outreach
How it appears: Survivor-led outreach documentary
Follows Brenda Myers-Powell, a survivor and outreach worker supporting women in Chicago’s sex trade.
Content Notes: Sexual exploitation; trafficking; violence
View Film / Learn More →Elle
SAAM Focus: Rape; survivor response; complex/atypical trauma
How it appears: Graphic direct depiction; aftermath
A woman responds to rape in ways that challenge conventional survivor narratives, though the portrayal is intentionally provocative.
Content Notes: Graphic rape; stalking; violence
View Film / Learn More →Finding Dawn
SAAM Focus: MMIW; sexual violence; exploitation; systemic racism
How it appears: Investigation; family/community testimony
Examines missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada and systemic conditions that increase vulnerability to sexual and gender violence.
Content Notes: Murder; sexual violence discussion; racism
View Film / Learn More →Fish Tank
SAAM Focus: Adult-teen sexual relationship; grooming/power imbalance
How it appears: Direct sexual relationship
A 15-year-old girl becomes sexually involved with her mother’s adult boyfriend, raising issues of grooming and exploitation.
Content Notes: Adult/minor sexual relationship; family dysfunction
View Film / Learn More →For Colored Girls
SAAM Focus: Rape; sexual abuse; intimate partner violence; Black women survivors
How it appears: Direct/strongly implied; survivor stories
Interwoven stories address sexual violence, intimate partner abuse, reproductive trauma and Black women’s resilience.
Content Notes: Rape; domestic violence; child death; abortion
View Film / Learn More →Gerald’s Game
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; marital coercion; trauma memory
How it appears: Flashback/reveal; survival
A woman’s survival crisis triggers memories of childhood sexual abuse and complicated marital sexual dynamics.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse; coercive sexual content; self-injury
View Film / Learn More →Ghislaine Maxwell: Filthy Rich
SAAM Focus: Sex trafficking; child sexual exploitation; grooming; legal response
How it appears: Survivor testimony; trial context
Survivors frame an examination of Ghislaine Maxwell’s role in Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual exploitation network.
Content Notes: Sex trafficking; child sexual abuse; survivor testimony
View Film / Learn More →Girl 27
SAAM Focus: Rape; Hollywood; institutional cover-up
How it appears: Historical investigation
Investigates the 1937 rape of MGM dancer Patricia Douglas and the studio’s efforts to suppress the case.
Content Notes: Rape; historical cover-up
View Film / Learn More →Girl in the Basement
SAAM Focus: Incest; captivity; rape; reproductive abuse
How it appears: Direct/strongly implied; captivity
Fictionalized captivity story involving a father imprisoning and repeatedly raping his daughter.
Content Notes: Incest; rape; captivity; pregnancy
View Film / Learn More →Girl in the Box
SAAM Focus: Kidnapping; sexual slavery; rape; coercive control
How it appears: Captivity; direct/strongly implied abuse
Based on Colleen Stan’s kidnapping and years of captivity, torture and sexual abuse.
Content Notes: Rape; captivity; torture; coercive control
View Film / Learn More →Girl Lost
SAAM Focus: Sex trafficking; commercial sexual exploitation; minors
How it appears: Exploitation storyline
Interwoven stories show girls and young women drawn or forced into commercial sexual exploitation.
Content Notes: Sex trafficking; minors; sexual violence
View Film / Learn More →Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams
SAAM Focus: War rape; survivor motherhood; trauma; disclosure
How it appears: Aftermath; family disclosure
A Bosnian woman and her daughter confront the legacy of rape during the Bosnian War.
Content Notes: War rape; trauma; disclosure
View Film / Learn More →Great Photo, Lovely Life: Facing a Family’s Secrets
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; incest/familial abuse; intergenerational trauma
How it appears: Survivor testimony; family confrontation
A photojournalist investigates sexual abuse committed by her grandfather and the family systems that enabled silence.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse; family confrontation; trauma
View Film / Learn More →Han Gong-ju
SAAM Focus: Gang rape; teen survivor; victim blaming; aftermath
How it appears: Aftermath; flashbacks
A teenage survivor tries to rebuild her life after gang rape while facing community pressure and blame.
Content Notes: Gang rape; suicide; victim blaming
View Film / Learn More →Happy Valley
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; sports; institutional response
How it appears: Community/institutional aftermath
Examines the Penn State community after the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse scandal.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse discussion; institutional betrayal
View Film / Learn More →Hard Candy
SAAM Focus: Online grooming; child sexual abuse allegations; vigilante response
How it appears: Confrontation / alleged predator
A teenage girl confronts an adult man she believes preys on minors; useful for discussion but not prevention guidance.
Content Notes: Sexual abuse allegations; torture; vigilante violence
View Film / Learn More →Highway of Tears
SAAM Focus: MMIW; sexual violence risk; systemic failures
How it appears: Investigation; family testimony
Examines disappearances and murders of Indigenous women along British Columbia’s Highway 16 corridor.
Content Notes: Murder; sexual violence references; racism
View Film / Learn More →Hope
SAAM Focus: Child rape; medical/forensic response; family healing
How it appears: Aftermath; survivor support
South Korean drama about a young child and family coping after a violent rape, with emphasis on recovery and community support.
Content Notes: Child rape; severe injury; trauma
View Film / Learn More →Hot Girls Wanted
SAAM Focus: Pornography industry; sexual exploitation; coercive conditions; young adults
How it appears: Industry observation
Follows young women entering amateur pornography and raises questions about consent, labor and exploitation.
Content Notes: Explicit sexual content; exploitation; age/power concerns
View Film / Learn More →Hounddog
SAAM Focus: Child rape; trauma; healing
How it appears: Direct/depicted assault; aftermath
A young girl in the rural South survives rape and uses music as part of coping and resilience.
Content Notes: Child rape; trauma; family violence
View Film / Learn More →How to Have Sex
SAAM Focus: Consent; coercion; sexual assault; peer pressure
How it appears: Ambiguous-to-nonconsensual encounter; aftermath
Examines a teen holiday where peer pressure and a sexual encounter illuminate the difference between participation and freely given consent.
Content Notes: Sexual assault/coercion; alcohol; teen sexuality
View Film / Learn More →I Am All Girls
SAAM Focus: Child sex trafficking; sexual exploitation; institutional corruption
How it appears: Investigation; revenge
South African thriller centered on investigators and a network exploiting girls through trafficking.
Content Notes: Child sexual exploitation; trafficking; violence
View Film / Learn More →I Am Evidence
SAAM Focus: Rape kits; forensic evidence; justice system; survivor rights
How it appears: Investigation; forensic/legal response
Investigates untested sexual assault kits and the consequences for survivors and public safety.
Content Notes: Sexual assault testimony; forensic evidence
View Film / Learn More →I Am Jane Doe
SAAM Focus: Child sex trafficking; online platforms; legal accountability
How it appears: Survivor/family advocacy; litigation
Follows families fighting online classified site Backpage over allegations that it facilitated sex trafficking of minors.
Content Notes: Child sex trafficking; exploitation; legal cases
View Film / Learn More →I Am Vanessa Guillen
SAAM Focus: Military sexual harassment; institutional accountability; advocacy
How it appears: Family advocacy; investigation
Follows Vanessa Guillen’s family as they demand accountability and reform after she reported sexual harassment and was later murdered.
Content Notes: Sexual harassment; murder; grief; military systems
View Film / Learn More →I Spit on Your Grave
SAAM Focus: Gang rape; rape-revenge
How it appears: Extremely graphic direct depiction
Influential and controversial rape-revenge film often discussed in scholarship on sexual violence and exploitation in cinema.
Content Notes: Extremely graphic gang rape; torture; revenge
View Film / Learn More →I Spit on Your Grave
SAAM Focus: Gang rape; rape-revenge
How it appears: Extremely graphic direct depiction
Remake centered on a woman’s violent revenge after gang rape.
Content Notes: Extremely graphic rape; torture; gore
View Film / Learn More →In Plain Sight: Stories of Hope and Freedom
SAAM Focus: Sex trafficking; survivor recovery; services
How it appears: Survivor stories; service response
Profiles trafficking survivors and organizations providing recovery services in the United States.
Content Notes: Sex trafficking; trauma; faith-based framing
View Film / Learn More →In the Land of Blood and Honey
SAAM Focus: Conflict-related sexual violence; rape camps; war crimes
How it appears: Direct/depicted sexual violence
Set during the Bosnian War and portrays sexual violence and coercion within ethnic conflict.
Content Notes: Rape; war violence; captivity
View Film / Learn More →Incendies
SAAM Focus: Rape; torture; incest; war crimes
How it appears: Revelation/flashback
A family investigation uncovers rape, torture and an incestuous consequence of wartime violence.
Content Notes: Rape; torture; incest; war violence
View Film / Learn More →India’s Daughter
SAAM Focus: Gang rape; murder; gender violence; public response
How it appears: Case documentary
Examines the 2012 gang rape and murder of Jyoti Singh and the social response in India.
Content Notes: Gang rape; murder; misogyny
View Film / Learn More →Irreversible
SAAM Focus: Rape; violence; trauma
How it appears: Extremely graphic direct depiction
Contains one of cinema’s most prolonged rape scenes and is included primarily for content-warning and representation analysis.
Content Notes: Extremely graphic prolonged rape and violence
View Film / Learn More →It Happened Here
SAAM Focus: Campus sexual assault; activism; Title IX
How it appears: Survivor testimony; advocacy
Follows college survivors working to hold universities accountable and change campus responses.
Content Notes: Sexual assault testimony; trauma
View Film / Learn More →It Was Rape
SAAM Focus: Rape; consent; survivor definitions
How it appears: Survivor testimony
Survivors discuss experiences that challenge narrow cultural ideas of what rape looks like.
Content Notes: Rape testimony; trauma
View Film / Learn More →Josephine
SAAM Focus: Sexual assault; child witness trauma; family response
How it appears: Witnessed assault; trauma aftermath
Follows an eight-year-old who witnesses a sexual assault and the effects on her sense of safety and family relationships.
Content Notes: Sexual assault witnessed by child; trauma; upcoming release as of Sept. 2026
View Film / Learn More →Julie Keeps Quiet
SAAM Focus: Grooming; coach-athlete abuse; institutional response; disclosure
How it appears: Implied abuse; trauma; silence
Centers a teen tennis player whose coach is investigated for abusing his position, emphasizing trauma, silence and systems around youth sports.
Content Notes: Abuse by coach; suicide references; trauma
View Film / Learn More →Leaving Neverland
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse allegations; grooming; male survivors
How it appears: Detailed survivor testimony
Two men describe alleged childhood sexual abuse by Michael Jackson and the grooming dynamics they experienced.
Content Notes: Detailed child sexual abuse allegations; grooming
View Film / Learn More →Lilya 4-ever
SAAM Focus: Child sex trafficking; sexual exploitation; grooming; poverty
How it appears: Trafficking storyline
A vulnerable teenage girl is groomed and trafficked from Eastern Europe into sexual exploitation.
Content Notes: Child sex trafficking; rape; suicide; severe trauma
View Film / Learn More →Loev
SAAM Focus: Sexual assault; coercion; intimate relationship; male survivor
How it appears: Direct/strongly implied assault
A relationship between two men becomes coercive and includes sexual violence, useful for discussing LGBTQ+ survivor experiences.
Content Notes: Sexual assault; relationship conflict
View Film / Learn More →Look Away
SAAM Focus: Sexual abuse; statutory abuse; rock music industry; power
How it appears: Survivor testimony
Women describe sexual abuse and exploitation connected to prominent rock musicians and the culture surrounding the industry.
Content Notes: Sexual abuse; minors; exploitation
View Film / Learn More →Loud Enough: Surviving Justice
SAAM Focus: Sexual assault; prosecution; survivor advocacy; justice reform
How it appears: Survivor testimony; legal response
Follows Madison Smith and her family as they pursue accountability after prosecutors initially decline to charge her attacker.
Content Notes: Sexual assault; legal system; trauma
View Film / Learn More →Luckiest Girl Alive
SAAM Focus: Gang rape; teen survivor; disclosure; media; trauma
How it appears: Direct/flashback; adult aftermath
An adult woman confronts the gang rape she survived in high school and the public story built around her past.
Content Notes: Graphic gang rape; school shooting; trauma
View Film / Learn More →M.F.A.
SAAM Focus: Campus rape; rape-revenge; institutional failure
How it appears: Direct/strongly implied; revenge
A graduate student becomes a vigilante after her rape and failed institutional response.
Content Notes: Sexual assault; violence; revenge
View Film / Learn More →Marshall
SAAM Focus: Rape allegation; race; criminal defense; credibility
How it appears: Trial / contested allegation
Dramatizes Thurgood Marshall’s defense of a Black man accused of raping a white woman, useful for discussing race, credibility and justice while recognizing the case’s complexities.
Content Notes: Sexual assault allegation; racism; legal proceedings
View Film / Learn More →Martha Marcy May Marlene
SAAM Focus: Cult sexual abuse; coercive control; grooming; trauma
How it appears: Implied/direct cult abuse; aftermath
A young woman escapes a coercive cult where sexual boundaries and autonomy are systematically violated.
Content Notes: Sexual coercion; cult abuse; trauma
View Film / Learn More →May December
SAAM Focus: Statutory rape; grooming; adult male survivor; long-term aftermath
How it appears: Decades-later aftermath; media reconstruction
Examines a marriage that began when an adult woman sexually abused a 13-year-old boy and the adult survivor’s unresolved trauma.
Content Notes: Statutory rape; grooming; family impact
View Film / Learn More →Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; clergy abuse; Deaf survivors; cover-up
How it appears: Survivor testimony; investigation
Follows Deaf men abused by a Catholic priest and the broader church systems that protected abusers.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse; clergy abuse; survivor testimony
View Film / Learn More →Megan Is Missing
SAAM Focus: Online grooming; abduction; child sexual abuse; rape
How it appears: Graphic direct depiction
Depicts online grooming, abduction and sexual violence against teenage girls; useful mainly as a content-warning/media-analysis entry.
Content Notes: Extremely graphic rape; child victimization; torture
View Film / Learn More →Mississippi Damned
SAAM Focus: Incest; child sexual abuse; family trauma; LGBTQ+
How it appears: Direct/strongly implied family abuse
Intergenerational family drama includes sexual abuse, violence and the lasting impact of secrecy and poverty.
Content Notes: Incest; child sexual abuse; domestic violence
View Film / Learn More →Money Shot: The Pornhub Story
SAAM Focus: Online sexual exploitation; nonconsensual content; CSAM allegations; sex worker rights
How it appears: Industry investigation
Examines Pornhub amid allegations involving nonconsensual and abusive content while also including sex worker perspectives.
Content Notes: Sexual exploitation; explicit-content discussion; child abuse material allegations
View Film / Learn More →Moxie
SAAM Focus: Sexual harassment; assault; sexism; student activism
How it appears: Harassment/assault disclosure; empowerment
Teen girls organize against sexism and harassment at school, including a sexual assault disclosure.
Content Notes: Sexual harassment; assault disclosure; bullying
View Film / Learn More →Ms. 45
SAAM Focus: Rape; trauma; vigilantism
How it appears: Direct assault; revenge
Cult rape-revenge film about a mute woman who becomes a vigilante after repeated sexual violence.
Content Notes: Rape; gun violence; revenge
View Film / Learn More →Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story
SAAM Focus: Child sex trafficking; sexual exploitation; criminalization of survivors
How it appears: Case history; justice reform
Examines Cyntoia Brown’s life, exploitation and prosecution, including questions about trafficking and how victimization affects criminal cases.
Content Notes: Child sexual exploitation; violence; incarceration
View Film / Learn More →Mysterious Skin
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; grooming; male survivors; trauma
How it appears: Direct/flashback; aftermath
Two young men cope very differently with childhood sexual abuse by a coach.
Content Notes: Graphic child sexual abuse themes; sex work; trauma
View Film / Learn More →Mystic River
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; male survivor; trauma; violence
How it appears: Childhood abuse backstory; adult aftermath
One character’s childhood sexual abuse shapes adult trauma and relationships within a murder mystery.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse; murder; violence
View Film / Learn More →No Más Bebés
SAAM Focus: Forced sterilization; reproductive coercion; medical racism
How it appears: Historical survivor testimony
Documents Mexican-American women who sued after sterilizations performed without meaningful informed consent in Los Angeles hospitals.
Content Notes: Forced sterilization; medical racism; childbirth
View Film / Learn More →NO! The Rape Documentary
SAAM Focus: Sexual violence against Black women; community response; healing
How it appears: Survivor testimony; cultural analysis
Centers Black women’s experiences of rape and sexual assault and challenges silence within communities and institutions.
Content Notes: Rape testimony; racism; community response
View Film / Learn More →North Country
SAAM Focus: Sexual harassment; assault; hostile work environment
How it appears: Workplace abuse; legal response
Based on a landmark class-action sexual harassment case involving women miners.
Content Notes: Sexual harassment; assault; threats
View Film / Learn More →Not a Pretty Picture
SAAM Focus: Rape; survivor memory; media representation
How it appears: Reenactment; survivor reflection
Martha Coolidge reconstructs her own rape and interrogates how sexual violence is represented and remembered.
Content Notes: Rape reenactment; trauma
View Film / Learn More →Notes on a Scandal
SAAM Focus: Teacher-student sexual abuse; statutory rape; power
How it appears: Adult/minor sexual relationship
A teacher has a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student, exposing abuse of professional power.
Content Notes: Adult/minor sexual relationship; manipulation
View Film / Learn More →On the Record
SAAM Focus: Rape allegations; Black survivors; media; #MeToo
How it appears: Survivor testimony; investigation
Centers women, including Drew Dixon, describing sexual assault allegations against music executive Russell Simmons and the costs of speaking publicly.
Content Notes: Detailed sexual assault allegations; public scrutiny
View Film / Learn More →Our Father
SAAM Focus: Fertility fraud; nonconsensual insemination; medical/reproductive abuse
How it appears: Survivor/family testimony; investigation
Examines a fertility doctor who secretly used his own sperm to inseminate patients without their informed consent.
Content Notes: Reproductive/medical abuse; fertility fraud
View Film / Learn More →Playground
SAAM Focus: Child sexual exploitation; sex trafficking; commercial abuse
How it appears: Investigation / advocacy
Investigates commercial sexual exploitation of children in the United States.
Content Notes: Child sexual exploitation; trafficking
View Film / Learn More →Pleasure
SAAM Focus: Pornography industry; coercion; consent; sexual assault
How it appears: Direct coercive sexual scene
Follows a young performer navigating consent, boundaries and coercive practices in the adult film industry.
Content Notes: Explicit sexual content; coercive sex; sexual assault
View Film / Learn More →Poetry
SAAM Focus: Gang rape; teen victim; community complicity; accountability
How it appears: Investigation/aftermath
A grandmother learns her grandson participated in a sexual assault that contributed to a girl’s death.
Content Notes: Sexual assault; suicide; moral injury
View Film / Learn More →Precious
SAAM Focus: Incest; child sexual abuse; rape; pregnancy; empowerment
How it appears: Direct/strongly implied; disclosure
A teenager survives repeated rape and incest while seeking education, safety and a different future.
Content Notes: Incest; rape; pregnancy; severe family abuse
View Film / Learn More →Predators
SAAM Focus: Online grooming; child sexual exploitation; predator stings; media ethics
How it appears: Media analysis; prevention context
Examines To Catch a Predator and its imitators, including online grooming behavior and ethical questions around predator-sting media.
Content Notes: Online sexual predation; discussion of attempted offenses against minors
View Film / Learn More →Priceless
SAAM Focus: Human trafficking; sexual exploitation
How it appears: Trafficking storyline
A man unknowingly transports women being trafficked and becomes involved in helping them escape.
Content Notes: Sex trafficking; coercion; faith-based framing
View Film / Learn More →Primal Fear
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; clergy abuse; male survivor; exploitation
How it appears: Evidence/revelation
A murder case involves allegations that an archbishop sexually exploited altar boys.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse; clergy abuse; murder; twist ending
View Film / Learn More →Procession
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; clergy abuse; male survivors; healing
How it appears: Survivor-created reenactments; healing process
Six men abused by Catholic clergy collaborate with filmmakers to recreate memories and reclaim agency.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse; reenactments; trauma
View Film / Learn More →Promising Young Woman
SAAM Focus: Rape culture; incapacitated consent; institutional complicity; retaliation
How it appears: Assault discussed/implied; revenge narrative
Explores the aftermath of a college rape and the social systems that protect perpetrators and discredit survivors.
Content Notes: Sexual assault discussion; violence; suicide/murder
View Film / Learn More →Rape Culture
SAAM Focus: Rape culture; prevention; feminist activism
How it appears: Education; historical analysis
An early documentary examining rape culture and anti-rape organizing in the United States.
Content Notes: Sexual violence discussion; historical material
View Film / Learn More →Rape Is…
SAAM Focus: Rape culture; survivor testimony; definitions of sexual violence
How it appears: Education; survivor perspectives
Explores rape as a social and political issue through survivor stories and analysis.
Content Notes: Sexual assault testimony; trauma
View Film / Learn More →Redacted
SAAM Focus: Gang rape; war crimes; military violence
How it appears: Direct/strongly implied; media reconstruction
Fictionalized account based on the rape and murder of an Iraqi girl by U.S. soldiers.
Content Notes: Sexual violence; murder; war atrocities
View Film / Learn More →Revenge
SAAM Focus: Rape; victim blaming; revenge
How it appears: Direct depiction; revenge
A woman survives rape and attempted murder and turns the tables on her attackers.
Content Notes: Rape; graphic violence; gore
View Film / Learn More →Rewind
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; grooming; family systems; male survivor
How it appears: First-person archive investigation
A filmmaker uses family videos and interviews to investigate his own childhood sexual abuse and the adults who failed to protect him.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse; grooming; family betrayal
View Film / Learn More →Roleplay
SAAM Focus: Campus sexual violence; consent; rape culture; prevention
How it appears: Student-led prevention / transformative theater
College students create theater from their experiences and conversations about consent, power, identity and campus sexual violence.
Content Notes: Sexual violence discussions; survivor disclosures
View Film / Learn More →Roll Red Roll
SAAM Focus: Sexual assault; rape culture; image-based abuse; bystander culture
How it appears: Investigation; digital evidence
Examines the Steubenville rape case and how peers, social media and community culture shaped the response.
Content Notes: Sexual assault; digital images; victim blaming
View Film / Learn More →Room
SAAM Focus: Captivity; rape; reproductive abuse; parent-child survival
How it appears: Off-screen/strongly implied; aftermath
A woman and her child escape years of captivity; the film centers survival, parenting and recovery after repeated rape.
Content Notes: Rape; captivity; child endangerment; trauma
View Film / Learn More →Rosemary’s Baby
SAAM Focus: Drug-facilitated rape; reproductive coercion; bodily autonomy
How it appears: Drug-facilitated assault; pregnancy
Classic horror built around a woman being drugged, raped and forced into a pregnancy by a controlling group.
Content Notes: Rape; reproductive coercion; gaslighting
View Film / Learn More →Santosh
SAAM Focus: Rape and murder; caste/gender violence; police response
How it appears: Investigation; off-screen victimization
A newly appointed police constable becomes involved in the investigation of the rape and murder of a Dalit teenage girl in India.
Content Notes: Rape/murder investigation; discrimination; police violence
View Film / Learn More →Scouts Honor: The Secret Files of the Boy Scouts of America
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; grooming; institutional cover-up; male survivors
How it appears: Survivor testimony; investigation
Survivors and whistleblowers examine decades of sexual abuse and concealment within the Boy Scouts of America.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse; survivor testimony; institutional betrayal
View Film / Learn More →Served: Harvey Weinstein
SAAM Focus: Sexual assault; criminal prosecution; accountability
How it appears: Court/legal response
Focuses on Weinstein’s criminal case and sentencing following sexual assault convictions.
Content Notes: Sexual assault case details; court proceedings
View Film / Learn More →Sex + Money: A National Search for Human Worth
SAAM Focus: Domestic sex trafficking; commercial sexual exploitation
How it appears: Advocacy documentary
Travels across the U.S. documenting domestic minor sex trafficking and survivor/community responses.
Content Notes: Child sex trafficking; exploitation
View Film / Learn More →Sex Trafficking in America
SAAM Focus: Domestic sex trafficking; child sexual exploitation; coercive control
How it appears: Survivor testimony; police investigation
FRONTLINE follows survivors and a Phoenix police unit responding to sex trafficking of girls and young women in the U.S.
Content Notes: Sex trafficking; child exploitation; abuse
View Film / Learn More →Sextortion: The Hidden Pandemic
SAAM Focus: Online grooming; sextortion; child sexual exploitation
How it appears: Prevention; survivor/family testimony
Explores online grooming and sextortion tactics and the impact on young people and families.
Content Notes: Child sexual exploitation; suicide discussion; online coercion
View Film / Learn More →She Said
SAAM Focus: Sexual assault; harassment; abuse of power; #MeToo
How it appears: Investigation; survivor disclosures
Dramatizes the New York Times investigation into Harvey Weinstein and the survivors who came forward.
Content Notes: Sexual assault/harassment descriptions; trauma
View Film / Learn More →Short Term 12
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; trauma; youth services; disclosure
How it appears: Disclosure; survivor support
Set in a group home where young people and staff carry histories of abuse, including sexual abuse, and navigate trust and support.
Content Notes: Child abuse; sexual abuse disclosure; self-harm
View Film / Learn More →Silenced
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; disabled children; school abuse; institutional cover-up
How it appears: Direct/depicted abuse; investigation
Based on abuse at a South Korean school for Deaf children and the fight to expose institutional protection of perpetrators.
Content Notes: Graphic child sexual abuse; disability abuse; violence
View Film / Learn More →Silent Beauty
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; family silence; healing; generational trauma
How it appears: First-person survivor testimony
Filmmaker Jasmín Mara López confronts childhood sexual abuse and a family culture of silence while documenting healing.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse; family disclosures; trauma
View Film / Learn More →Sisters Rising
SAAM Focus: Sexual violence against Native women; sovereignty; survivor advocacy
How it appears: Survivor testimony; advocacy
Native women survivors fight sexual violence and jurisdictional barriers while asserting tribal sovereignty.
Content Notes: Sexual assault testimony; systemic racism
View Film / Learn More →Sleepers
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; institutional abuse; male survivors; revenge
How it appears: Direct/strongly implied abuse; adult aftermath
Boys sent to a juvenile facility are sexually abused by guards and later confront one of their abusers.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse; institutional violence; revenge
View Film / Learn More →Sold
SAAM Focus: Child sex trafficking; forced prostitution; exploitation
How it appears: Trafficking storyline
A Nepali girl is trafficked to a brothel in India and fights to survive and escape.
Content Notes: Child sex trafficking; sexual violence; captivity
View Film / Learn More →Song for a Raggy Boy
SAAM Focus: Institutional child abuse; clergy sexual abuse; corporal violence
How it appears: Direct/depicted institutional abuse
Set in an Irish reform school where boys endure brutal physical and sexual abuse by clergy.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse; severe physical abuse
View Film / Learn More →Sorry, Baby
SAAM Focus: Sexual assault; trauma; healing; disclosure
How it appears: Aftermath; non-linear survivor perspective
Follows a graduate student living through the aftermath of sexual assault and the uneven ways life continues around her.
Content Notes: Sexual assault; trauma responses; institutional response
View Film / Learn More →Sorry/Not Sorry
SAAM Focus: Sexual misconduct; harassment; celebrity accountability
How it appears: Investigation; survivor accounts
Examines allegations against Louis C.K. and the cultural response to sexual misconduct and attempted comeback.
Content Notes: Sexual misconduct descriptions; workplace power
View Film / Learn More →Speak
SAAM Focus: Rape; teen survivor; disclosure; school response
How it appears: Aftermath; eventual disclosure
A high-school student becomes socially isolated after rape and gradually finds language to disclose what happened.
Content Notes: Rape; trauma; depression
View Film / Learn More →Spotlight
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; clergy abuse; institutional cover-up
How it appears: Investigation; survivor interviews
Dramatizes the Boston Globe investigation that exposed widespread clergy sexual abuse and cover-up.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse descriptions; institutional betrayal
View Film / Learn More →Stopping Traffic
SAAM Focus: Human trafficking; sex trafficking; exploitation; prevention
How it appears: Survivor testimony; advocacy
Explores sex trafficking and anti-trafficking efforts in multiple countries.
Content Notes: Sex trafficking; abuse; survivor testimony
View Film / Learn More →Straw Dogs
SAAM Focus: Rape; consent ambiguity; violence
How it appears: Graphic/controversial depiction
Frequently analyzed for its controversial depiction of rape and consent.
Content Notes: Sexual violence; severe violence
View Film / Learn More →Surviving Ohio State
SAAM Focus: Male survivors; medical sexual abuse; sports; institutional betrayal
How it appears: Survivor testimony; investigation
Male former student-athletes describe abuse by Ohio State physician Richard Strauss and the institutional culture that allowed it to continue.
Content Notes: Sexual abuse; medical setting; survivor testimony
View Film / Learn More →Surviving Sex Trafficking
SAAM Focus: Sex trafficking; sexual exploitation; survivor healing
How it appears: Survivor testimony; recovery
Survivors of sex trafficking describe exploitation and the long process of rebuilding their lives.
Content Notes: Sex trafficking; sexual abuse; trauma
View Film / Learn More →Teeth
SAAM Focus: Sexual assault; attempted rape; consent; rape culture
How it appears: Multiple attempted/direct assaults
Uses body horror to explore sexual assault, coercion and female bodily autonomy.
Content Notes: Sexual assault; genital injury; gore
View Film / Learn More →Tell Them You Love Me
SAAM Focus: Disability; capacity to consent; sexual assault; power imbalance
How it appears: Case study; legal/ethical debate
Examines a criminal case involving a professor and a nonverbal man with cerebral palsy, centering questions of consent, disability, race and power.
Content Notes: Sexual assault case; disability; contested perspectives
View Film / Learn More →Test Pattern
SAAM Focus: Sexual assault; drug-facilitated assault; healthcare response; race
How it appears: Aftermath; search for forensic exam
A Black woman and her partner encounter barriers while trying to obtain a rape kit after a sexual assault.
Content Notes: Sexual assault; intoxication; healthcare barriers
View Film / Learn More →The Accused
SAAM Focus: Gang rape; victim blaming; bystanders; prosecution
How it appears: Graphic direct depiction; trial
A landmark drama about a gang rape, bystander encouragement and a survivor’s fight for accountability.
Content Notes: Very graphic gang rape; victim blaming
View Film / Learn More →The Assessment
SAAM Focus: Male survivor; rape; reproductive power; coercion
How it appears: Direct depiction; power imbalance
Includes a rape of a male character by a woman who holds institutional power over his ability to become a parent, useful for discussing male victimization and coercion.
Content Notes: Sexual assault/rape; victim blaming; reproductive power
View Film / Learn More →The Assistant
SAAM Focus: Sexual harassment; institutional complicity; abuse of power
How it appears: Implied abuse; workplace environment
Follows an assistant who recognizes patterns of sexual misconduct and complicity around a powerful executive.
Content Notes: Sexual misconduct implied; workplace intimidation
View Film / Learn More →The Balconettes
SAAM Focus: Attempted rape; rape-revenge; survivor solidarity
How it appears: Attempted assault; aftermath
Three women’s story shifts after one survives an attempted rape, blending dark comedy, horror and survivor solidarity.
Content Notes: Attempted rape; violence; blood; revenge themes
View Film / Learn More →The Birth of a Nation
SAAM Focus: Sexual violence in slavery; rape; racial violence
How it appears: Direct/strongly implied
Portrays rape and sexual violence against enslaved Black women as a catalyst within the Nat Turner story.
Content Notes: Rape; slavery; violence; note filmmaker controversy
View Film / Learn More →The Boys of St. Vincent
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; institutional abuse; clergy; male survivors
How it appears: Direct/depicted abuse; aftermath
Fictionalized story of abuse in a Catholic orphanage and later attempts at accountability.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse; severe physical abuse
View Film / Learn More →The Butterfly Effect
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; exploitation; trauma
How it appears: Childhood abuse scenes/timelines
Alternate timelines reveal child sexual abuse and exploitation as part of the characters’ traumatic histories.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse; suicide; violence
View Film / Learn More →The Bystander Moment: Transforming Rape Culture at Its Roots
SAAM Focus: Bystander intervention; masculinity; rape culture; prevention
How it appears: Prevention education
Explores bystander intervention and men’s roles in preventing sexual violence.
Content Notes: Discussion of sexual violence and prevention
View Film / Learn More →The Children in the Pictures
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse material; online exploitation; policing
How it appears: Investigation
Follows investigators combating online child sexual abuse material and identifying victims and offenders.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse material; disturbing descriptions/images may be discussed
View Film / Learn More →The Club
SAAM Focus: Clergy sexual abuse; institutional concealment; abuse of power
How it appears: Offender/institutional perspective
Centers priests living in a church-run house after misconduct, including sexual abuse, and exposes mechanisms of concealment.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse discussion; disturbing themes
View Film / Learn More →The Color Purple
SAAM Focus: Incest; child sexual abuse; rape; intimate partner abuse; empowerment
How it appears: Direct/strongly implied; life-course aftermath
Celie survives childhood sexual abuse and coercive marriage while building independence and supportive relationships.
Content Notes: Incest; sexual abuse; domestic violence
View Film / Learn More →The Color Purple
SAAM Focus: Incest; child sexual abuse; sexual violence; empowerment
How it appears: Direct/strongly implied; life-course aftermath
Musical adaptation retains Celie’s history of sexual abuse and focuses on survival, sisterhood and empowerment.
Content Notes: Incest; sexual abuse; domestic violence
View Film / Learn More →The Diary of a Teenage Girl
SAAM Focus: Statutory abuse; adult-teen relationship; power imbalance
How it appears: Sexual relationship framed ambiguously
A 15-year-old begins a sexual relationship with her mother’s adult boyfriend; useful for discussion of statutory abuse and media framing of consent.
Content Notes: Adult/minor sexual relationship; explicit sexual content
View Film / Learn More →The Flowers of War
SAAM Focus: Threatened rape; sexual exploitation; wartime sexual violence
How it appears: Threat/exploitation storyline
Set during the Nanjing Massacre, with women and girls facing sexual violence from occupying soldiers.
Content Notes: Threatened/depicted sexual violence; war atrocities
View Film / Learn More →The General’s Daughter
SAAM Focus: Military rape; institutional cover-up; investigation
How it appears: Investigation; flashback
A military investigator uncovers sexual violence and institutional betrayal connected to a murdered officer.
Content Notes: Rape; murder; military abuse
View Film / Learn More →The Girl Next Door
SAAM Focus: Sexual humiliation; child abuse; torture; exploitation
How it appears: Direct/strongly implied abuse
Based loosely on the Sylvia Likens case and depicts severe abuse including sexual humiliation and violence against a teenage girl.
Content Notes: Extremely graphic child abuse; sexual humiliation; torture
View Film / Learn More →The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
SAAM Focus: Rape; sexual abuse; misogynistic violence; revenge
How it appears: Graphic direct depiction
Swedish adaptation featuring sexual violence against Lisbeth Salander and her retaliation.
Content Notes: Graphic rape; torture; murder
View Film / Learn More →The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
SAAM Focus: Rape; sexual abuse; trafficking/misogynistic violence; revenge
How it appears: Graphic direct depiction
Features a survivor of sexual violence confronting an abusive guardian while investigating misogynistic crimes.
Content Notes: Graphic rape; torture; murder
View Film / Learn More →The Handmaiden
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; sexual exploitation; coercion; pornography; queer relationship
How it appears: Backstory/exploitation; escape
A woman raised under sexualized abuse and exploitation becomes part of a complex scheme and ultimately seeks freedom.
Content Notes: Sexual abuse; explicit sexual content; suicide imagery
View Film / Learn More →The Hunting Ground
SAAM Focus: Campus sexual assault; institutional betrayal; Title IX
How it appears: Survivor testimony; investigation
Examines sexual assault on U.S. college campuses and institutional responses to reports.
Content Notes: Sexual assault testimony; institutional betrayal
View Film / Learn More →The Invisible War
SAAM Focus: Military sexual assault; institutional betrayal
How it appears: Survivor testimony; investigation
Investigates sexual assault within the U.S. military and barriers to justice.
Content Notes: Sexual assault testimony; military abuse
View Film / Learn More →The Kite Runner
SAAM Focus: Child sexual assault; male survivor; shame; bystander failure
How it appears: Direct/depicted assault; aftermath
A boy witnesses the sexual assault of his friend and lives with guilt over failing to intervene.
Content Notes: Child sexual assault; violence; ethnic persecution
View Film / Learn More →The Last Duel
SAAM Focus: Rape; marital rape; victim blaming; legal history
How it appears: Graphic direct depiction; repeated perspective
Centers a medieval rape accusation and the survivor’s credibility in a system controlled by men.
Content Notes: Very graphic rape scenes; marital sexual violence
View Film / Learn More →The Light of the Moon
SAAM Focus: Rape; trauma responses; relationships; recovery
How it appears: Assault and aftermath
Follows a woman through the immediate and longer-term aftermath of rape, including relationships, work and recovery.
Content Notes: Rape; trauma; relationship strain
View Film / Learn More →The Line
SAAM Focus: Rape; consent; legal definitions; survivor experience
How it appears: First-person documentary; consent analysis
Filmmaker Nancy Schwartzman investigates consent and accountability after her own rape.
Content Notes: Rape discussion; survivor account
View Film / Learn More →The Lovely Bones
SAAM Focus: Child sexual assault/murder; grooming; family trauma
How it appears: Implied/off-screen; aftermath
A murdered girl narrates the aftermath of her abduction and sexual violence, focusing heavily on family grief and the perpetrator.
Content Notes: Child murder; sexual assault implied; grief
View Film / Learn More →The Magdalene Sisters
SAAM Focus: Institutional abuse; sexual violence; exploitation; faith institutions
How it appears: Direct/depicted institutional abuse
Depicts women confined in Irish Magdalene laundries and subjected to physical, emotional and sexual abuse.
Content Notes: Sexual abuse; forced labor; institutional violence
View Film / Learn More →The Mask You Live In
SAAM Focus: Masculinity; gender norms; violence prevention
How it appears: Prevention / cultural analysis
Examines harmful masculinity norms that can intersect with aggression, entitlement and sexual violence prevention.
Content Notes: Bullying; violence; sexual content discussion
View Film / Learn More →The Milk of Sorrow
SAAM Focus: War rape; intergenerational trauma; sexual violence legacy
How it appears: Aftermath / intergenerational trauma
Explores the inherited psychological effects of sexual violence during Peru’s internal conflict.
Content Notes: War rape discussed; trauma
View Film / Learn More →The Mudge Boy
SAAM Focus: Male sexual assault; bullying; sexuality
How it appears: Direct assault
A socially isolated teen boy experiences bullying and sexual violence while navigating grief and sexuality.
Content Notes: Male sexual assault; bullying; grief
View Film / Learn More →The Nightingale
SAAM Focus: Rape; colonial violence; war-related sexual violence; revenge
How it appears: Extremely graphic direct depiction
A woman in colonial Tasmania pursues revenge after brutal sexual and family violence.
Content Notes: Extremely graphic rape; murder; racism; child death
View Film / Learn More →The Perks of Being a Wallflower
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; male survivor; trauma; memory
How it appears: Late disclosure/reveal
A young man’s mental health struggles are linked to repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse reveal; suicide; mental health
View Film / Learn More →The Prince of Tides
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; family trauma; male survivor
How it appears: Trauma disclosure / flashback
A man’s buried childhood trauma, including sexual violence against his family, emerges during therapy.
Content Notes: Sexual violence; suicide; family trauma
View Film / Learn More →The Rape of Recy Taylor
SAAM Focus: Rape; racial violence; Jim Crow; survivor advocacy
How it appears: Historical survivor account
Documents Recy Taylor’s 1944 gang rape by white men and the Black women who organized for justice.
Content Notes: Rape; racist violence; historical injustice
View Film / Learn More →The Salesman
SAAM Focus: Sexual assault; trauma; shame; retaliation
How it appears: Assault mostly off-screen; aftermath
An Iranian couple’s relationship changes after the wife is sexually assaulted in their apartment.
Content Notes: Sexual assault; trauma; revenge
View Film / Learn More →The Seasoning House
SAAM Focus: Sex trafficking; sexual slavery; conflict-related sexual violence
How it appears: Graphic trafficking/rape setting
Set in a wartime brothel where young women are held and sexually abused by soldiers.
Content Notes: Graphic sexual violence; trafficking; torture
View Film / Learn More →The Storm Makers
SAAM Focus: Human trafficking; sexual exploitation; labor exploitation
How it appears: Survivor testimony; international investigation
Examines trafficking networks in Cambodia and the social/economic vulnerabilities they exploit.
Content Notes: Trafficking; exploitation; poverty
View Film / Learn More →The Tale
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; grooming; memory; delayed recognition
How it appears: Memory reconstruction; adult survivor
An adult woman reexamines a relationship she once understood as consensual and recognizes childhood grooming and sexual abuse.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse; grooming; explicit discussion
View Film / Learn More →The War Zone
SAAM Focus: Incest; child sexual abuse; family secrecy
How it appears: Direct/strongly implied
A teenage boy discovers sexual abuse within his family.
Content Notes: Incest; child sexual abuse; disturbing imagery
View Film / Learn More →The Whistleblower
SAAM Focus: Sex trafficking; sexual exploitation; peacekeepers; institutional corruption
How it appears: Trafficking investigation
A U.N. peacekeeper uncovers sex trafficking and abuse involving international personnel in postwar Bosnia.
Content Notes: Sex trafficking; sexual violence; torture; war context
View Film / Learn More →The Woodsman
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; offender reentry; prevention questions
How it appears: Offender-centered perspective
Follows a convicted child molester after prison; included for professional/media analysis rather than survivor-centered screening.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse themes; offender perspective
View Film / Learn More →Tough Guise 2
SAAM Focus: Masculinity; violence; rape culture
How it appears: Prevention / media literacy
Connects cultural ideals of masculinity to violence and can support discussions of sexual violence prevention.
Content Notes: Violence and sexual violence discussion
View Film / Learn More →Trade
SAAM Focus: Child sex trafficking; sexual exploitation; kidnapping
How it appears: Trafficking storyline
A teenager is abducted into a trafficking network, while her brother searches for her across the U.S.-Mexico border.
Content Notes: Child sex trafficking; kidnapping; sexual violence
View Film / Learn More →Tricked
SAAM Focus: Domestic sex trafficking; commercial sexual exploitation; coercion
How it appears: Survivor testimony; investigation
Examines sex trafficking across the United States through survivors, law enforcement, buyers and traffickers.
Content Notes: Sex trafficking; exploitation; abuse
View Film / Learn More →Trust
SAAM Focus: Online grooming; statutory rape; child sexual abuse; family aftermath
How it appears: Grooming; assault; aftermath
A teenage girl is groomed online by an adult who manipulates her into an in-person sexual assault.
Content Notes: Online grooming; statutory rape; family trauma
View Film / Learn More →Twist of Faith
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; clergy abuse; adult survivor trauma
How it appears: Survivor testimony
Follows a man confronting childhood sexual abuse by a priest and the effect on his family and faith.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse; trauma; faith crisis
View Film / Learn More →Unspeakable Acts
SAAM Focus: Child sexual abuse; investigation; forensic interviewing
How it appears: Case-based drama
Dramatizes psychologists involved in investigating a large child sexual abuse case.
Content Notes: Child sexual abuse; interviews; legal controversy
View Film / Learn More →Untouchable
SAAM Focus: Sexual assault allegations; harassment; abuse of power; Weinstein
How it appears: Survivor testimony; investigation
Examines Harvey Weinstein’s rise and allegations of sexual misconduct through survivor and insider interviews.
Content Notes: Sexual assault/harassment testimony
View Film / Learn More →Very Young Girls
SAAM Focus: Child sex trafficking; commercial sexual exploitation
How it appears: Survivor/youth services documentary
Follows girls exploited in commercial sex and an organization helping them leave trafficking situations.
Content Notes: Child sex trafficking; sexual exploitation
View Film / Learn More →Victim/Suspect
SAAM Focus: Rape; false-report myths; policing; criminal justice
How it appears: Investigation; survivor cases
Investigates cases in which women who reported sexual assault were instead accused or charged with false reporting.
Content Notes: Sexual assault descriptions; police interviews; institutional betrayal
View Film / Learn More →Violation
SAAM Focus: Rape by known person; betrayal; revenge
How it appears: Direct depiction; aftermath
A woman is raped by someone within her family circle and pursues violent revenge.
Content Notes: Graphic rape; gore; dismemberment
View Film / Learn More →Wind River
SAAM Focus: Rape; MMIW/MMIP; Indigenous women; jurisdiction/justice
How it appears: Graphic direct depiction; investigation
A murder investigation on a reservation reveals rape and highlights violence affecting Indigenous women.
Content Notes: Graphic rape; murder; cold exposure; violence
View Film / Learn More →Women Talking
SAAM Focus: Rape; drug-facilitated assault; community accountability; faith
How it appears: Aftermath; survivor deliberation
Women in an isolated religious colony debate how to respond after discovering years of drug-facilitated rapes.
Content Notes: Rape; child sexual abuse references; faith; trauma
View Film / Learn More →USING THE COLLECTION
Preview before you press play.
Films vary widely in how directly they depict sexual violence and in who they may be appropriate for. Review content notes and screening information before using a title in a classroom, training, support setting, or public awareness event.
- Review the film description and content notes
- Consider the intended audience and setting
- Preview difficult or graphic material when possible
- Provide support resources during public programming
- Allow viewers to step away or opt out
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