Independent Lens
Revenge of the Electric Car
In 2006, thousands of new electric cars were purposely destroyed by the same companies that built them. Now the electric car is back with a vengeance.
Keep Quiet and Forgive
Fed up with the credo “forgive and forget,” an Amish child sexual assault survivor breaks her silence, igniting a nationwide movement of Amish survivors seeking justice and reform.
- Length
- 90 minutes
- Funding Initiative
- Open Call
Director/Producer
Sarah McClure
Sarah McClure is a journalist and filmmaker whose work includes Radicals Rising, Frat Power, duPont Award-winning Death by Fentanyl, and Emmy Award-nominated Prison Kids: A crime against America's children. She's worked with The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Univision, and Agence France-Presse.
Producer
Joseph Terranova
Joseph Terranova is a Lebanese-Syrian-American filmmaker and cinematographer who began his career as a humanitarian storyteller in East Africa. He produced the award-winning short narrative On the Mountain, about an English teacher from Kabul and is the founder of reverie, a production company based in Pennsylvania.
Producer/Co-Director
Jessie Deeter
Jessie Deeter is an Emmy Award-nominated filmmaker. Her films include The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley, Death by Fire, Do You Trust This Computer?, A Revolution in Four Seasons, Spark: A Burning Man Story, Who Killed the Electric Car?, and Revenge of the Electric Car.
- Other ITVS Films
- Revenge of the Electric Car
We fund untold stories for public media.
Learn more about funding opportunities with ITVS.
The Film
Lizzy grew up in “Amish Bluff Country” in Southern Minnesota, steeped in the traditions of her Swartzentruber Amish community. “Forgive and forget” was a frequent teaching — its innocuous message belying something darker. In Amish communities, sexual abuse is described as an “open secret.” And while there are a few communities starting to support victims, many continue to mount aggressive campaigns to silence those who speak out, pressuring victims to forgive their abusers in church and discouraging them from making police reports in favor of dealing with abuse internally. Lizzy sets out to change that.
Thirty years after being raped by an Amish farmer and ostracized by her community, Lizzy steps forward to report her sexual assault. Based on a groundbreaking investigation by Director Sarah McClure, Keep Quiet and Forgive chronicles Lizzy’s travails as a leader among Amish and Mennonite survivors — helping to raise public awareness and stand by those seeking healing and justice from a famously insular religious society.
With unprecedented access to Amish communities and survivors of sexual abuse, Keep Quiet and Forgive follows Lizzy as she works one-on-one with survivors, as they break their silence and navigate life after abuse, suicidal thoughts, family strife, and cultural excommunication. It is a journey focused more on the aftermath of assault than the assault itself. Along the way we also meet Menno, who recounts the loss of his family after escaping his Amish home in a stranger’s truck; Ruth, who feels pressured by her community to drop charges against her abuser; and Dena, who founded the Amish survivors’ support group, Voices of Hope, with Lizzy.
Together, they hope that “forgive and forget” will give way to healing, empowerment, and justice, and that Lizzy’s fight will give other survivors the strength they need to advocate for themselves.
