Badass Activist Friday Presents: Olivia Klaus

It’s Friday, and we all know what that means! Interviews with your favorite badass feminists and activists. Whether social media queens and kings, creative artists, sex educators, or just kick-ass personalities, these people harness righteous anger, instigate movements and inspire cultural change. We’re here to honor them and their work, but more importantly, to highlight how we can all get up, plug in, and Just Start Doing.

This week, I talked to filmmaker Olivia Klaus. She is the director and producer of Sin by Silence, a documentary about domestic violence, and she was recently named one of the “Top 16 Female Role Models” by Pixel Project. Let’s hear what she has to say!

You are a filmmaker and an activist. Which came first? How does filmmaking impact the way you operate in the world?

I have always had a passion to help be a voice for the voiceless.  So, I guess it was only natural for me to become a filmmaker – actually, I like to think of it as a creative activist.  Documentary filmmaking is one of the most rewarding jobs because I believe that changing the world starts with a story.  Simple or complicated, it doesn’t matter. A good story, well told, can change lives, change laws and can change you.

Tell us about your project and the issues at hand. What are you fighting for? Can you sum up your mission for us?

Sin by Silence is a story of empowerment when all odds are stacked against you. It’s my latest film that tells the story of women who are domestic violence’s worst-case scenarios: women who have killed their abusers. Yet, more importantly, it’s an incredible journey of women who overcame the odds to journey from victim to survivor.

Rarely do I find that people want to talk about domestic violence and incarceration.  Yet, I believe these tragedies go hand in hand.  And through Sin by Silence we are hoping to change hearts and minds to really understand the importance of getting involved through a new perspective – incarcerated battered women.  They open pandora’s box of secrets that is domestic violence.  Throughout my time working with them I have learned more from their stories than any other expert or advocate on this issue.  In my mind these women are the true experts on domestic violence. These women lived through nightmares, but the key is that they survived.

Through Sin by Silence their voices can now be heard and countless people can carry on the cause and help change the injustice that happens behind closed doors and behind prison walls.  While rapists can serve as little as 36 months and manslaughter charges can end in less than five years, the women featured in the film have each served an astonishing 20+ years for acting in self-defense.  The film is a call to action about the issues of domestic violence so that we can all be the change that helps women to become the mothers, daughters, sisters and friends they were always meant to be.

It’s really exciting to see how the power of film can move mountains.  With Sin by Silence, we have been able to build a movement that is not only helping people understand more about the complexities of abuse, but we are also working with Legislators in several states to help improve laws for their battered women in and out of prison.  It’s truly remarkable to be part of the journey that started with a film and has not gone beyond the screen and into countless communities.

What are some unexpected experiences that came with making this movie? Do you feel that making the movie has changed you?

My journey to create Sin by Silence was a completely unexpected.  When I first started down this path, it was to help a friend who had opened up to me about the abuse she was enduring behind closed doors.  As my mind started racing for ways to help or fix things, I realized that I was completely helpless. I had no answers, no solutions.  I started discovering women’s shelters and organizations.  Yet they offered extremely limited resources for victims and those trying to help. Then a conversation with a colleague, Dr. Elizabeth Leonard – author of Convicted Survivors – changed everything. She started talking about her own inspiration for solutions to the crisis at hand. She suggested that my quest include a trip to the most unlikely place – prison!

The first time I visited the California Institution for Women was in 2001. I was nervous that evening, wondering whom I was about to meet. The group Convicted Women Against Abuse (CWAA) was comprised of women who had killed the men they once loved. But when the meeting started, I was slowly introduced to women who could be my neighbors, my friends, my sister…or even myself.

Since that first meeting, I have been unable to turn my back on the women of CWAA. They, along with my friend, opened my eyes to a part of the world that I never knew existed. Once that silence had been broken, I found that I could never pretend that life was the same as it was before.

How do you feel about the way that DV/IPV is portrayed in the media? One recent treatment of the topic that comes to mind is the song “Love the Way You Lie” be Eminem and Rihanna – did you feel that it was more helpful, or more problematic?

Depictions of violence against women seem to have become mainstream storytelling tactics.  With the very public act of violence against Rihanna, many advocates and organizations were hoping she would become an overnight poster girl against abuse.  She in return fled the opposite direction, and understandably so since she is far from healed.

The message of “Love the Way You Lie” certainly created a double edged sword.  Maybe that’s the beauty of it! Rihanna’s haunting vocals and Eminem’s intensity are the backdrop to a video that show an extremely romanticized relationship.  Yet, the characters are mutually abusive.  So, viewers are left with an idea that going through the pain is worth it an intensely, intimate relationship?  Yet, by the end of the madness, the couple is still together – neither have grown, changed or suffered any consequences.  Seems very simliar to the very gray area of abusive relationships and understanding of the extreme dependency that happens with an abusive couple.  Maybe the message was too real and we would have rather seen Rihanna with her fist in the air championing the domestic violence cause.  Well, those are really hard expectations to ask someone to deal with….especially someone who has not healed.

Your movie will be shown on TV on the 17^th! How excited are you about this? What can we do to help you get the word out?

Let everyone know to tune in on Monday, Oct. 17th at 8pm ET/PT on Investigation Discovery. Nearly 78 million homes could be watching … it’s simply a dream come true! So, we are hoping that everyone will invite their friends over to watch the broadcast and download our Broadcast Kit and resources at Currix to help make the night a success! Also, make sure to join me during the during the broadcast, as we’ll be having a live Q&A discussion at the Investigation Discovery FB page and on Twitter with #IDFilms.

Thank you Olivia, for your time and your great answers!

 

 

 

Tags: activism, activist, documentary, domestic violence, film making, intimate partner violence, Olivia Klaus, Sin by SIlence