Anita Hill Documentary Director Frieda Mock Tells Her Story

The film, production for which began in 2010, had a powerful impact on its creator.

By Jamilah King Mar 21, 2014

The powerful new documentary "Anita: Speaking Truth to Power" hits theaters this week. In it, director Frieda Mock tells the story of Hill’s brave choice to testify publicly about about her sexual harrassment allegations against then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. The film, production for which began in 2010, had a powerful impact on its creator. Mock wrote about her experience over at XO Jane:

As the film’s director, I’m beginning to understand that what Anita testified to that fateful day, October 11, 1991, struck a deep, resonant chord in many that erupts in a near love fest when they see how the rest of Anita’s story unfolded. It’s not what I set out to do.  It’s simply how Anita, no longer frozen in time in that iconic blue dress and now contextualized in time and place, comes across in the movie — a fabulous, great, fun person.

At the outset, what I didn’t realize and do now is that the heart of the movie is a deeply personal family story about Anita and the Hill family. It’s a typical American story about working hard and providing for your family, but it’s also about a quintessentially African-American family whose journey mirrors that of the history of African Americans — from slavery to freedom, through Jim Crow and the Civil Rights movement of the 60s and forward.   

Read the rest over at XO Jane.