SHE SAID: A FEMINIST APPROACH TO MOVIE-MAKING by Anna Sizorina, AWCH representative at Landesfrauenrat Hamburg
On October 5, 2017, The New York Times( NYT) published the article“ Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades” by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey. The exposure of the abuse scandal caused a global sensation. After the publication, eighty-two women came forward with their own allegations against Weinstein, triggering the # MeToo movement, leading to workplace and legal reforms.
On the first Monday of every month, Landesfrauenrat Hamburg hosts Feminist Forums that discuss gender equality issues. At the Feminist Forum in May 2025, Professor Dagmar von Hoff( who researches the aesthetics of textoriented German media, including literary and cinematic representations of trauma) addressed the topic of sexual violence and the # MeToo movement using scenes from a movie of Maria Schrader’ s, She Said( 2022), a film based on the 2019 book by NYT reporters Kantor and Twoney.
Maria Schrader, born in Hannover in 1965, is a German actress, director, and screenwriter. Since 2013, she has been a member of the ensemble at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg. Maria first learned about the # MeToo movement from the German press and then read the NYT article. She remembered being contacted by German journalists searching for the“ German Harvey Weinstein.” And women started talking. According to Maria, the story resonated with what was happening here, too. The silence was broken.
After directing the Netflix miniseries
Unorthodox( 2020), Maria Schrader was approached to direct the film She Said. The movie was a pretty accurate representation of the actual story. The collaboration with
NYT reporters Kantor and Twohey and their editor, Rebecca Corbett, was very intense during the preparation phase, which enabled a truthful portrayal of the journalistic work. Also, the COVID pandemic had a positive effect; during the time of social distancing, the movie crew was allowed to shoot in the NYT building.
In She Said, Maria Schrader retraced the investigation carried out by the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists and gave a voice to the abuse survivors. It was the first time that we saw two female journalists in an investigative movie. We followed Jodi and Megan at work and in their everyday lives, including care work and postpartum depression. According to the director, the goal was to show how their working and private roles merged and interacted during the investigation. By depicting women as mothers, Maria Schrader highlighted how the everyday working lives of these quiet heroes differed from those of men.
PHOTO BY MARTIN KRAFT
Maria Schrader, director of She Said
Maria Schrader chose not to show Weinstein. His presence was limited to phone calls and back-of-the-head shots. This was not his movie. In contrast to traditional expectations, the director deliberately put journalists and survivors into focus, reinforcing the impact of assault crimes. Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey gave women time and space to regain their voices and to learn to speak again. For the truth to be heard, we need to say it. And the story began to crystallize when one of the survivors agreed to have her words published.
To see an interview with Maria Schrader go to https:// filmloewin. de / she-said-mariaschrader-im-interview /
30 AT THE MOVIES