“Hear Me Now” strives to become the quintessential anti-school bullying documentary to change and save the lives of bullying victims. It encourages reassurance that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and that victims are not alone.
It focuses on harsh realities and the positive steps that are being taken to raise awareness and prevent school bullying.
Shot through a series of moving testimonials and poignant reenactments, “Hear Me Now” is sure to reach into the hearts and minds of many.
On September 7, 2015, the producers released a second trailer to promote the powerful film. A special VIP screening will take place in Nashville, TN’s historic Belcourt Theater on November 3rd, 2015. Future screenings will be announced shortly.
The statistics are staggering:
One out of every four students (22%) report being bullied during the school year (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2015).
19.6% of high school students in the US report being bullied at school in the past year. 14.8% reported being bullied online (Center for Disease Control, 2014).
64 percent of children who were bullied did not report it; only 36 percent reported the bullying (Petrosina, Guckenburg, DeVoe, and Hanson, 2010).
School-based bullying prevention programs decrease bullying by up to 25% (McCallion and Feder, 2013).
The reasons for being bullied reported most often by students were looks (55%), body shape (37%), and race (16%) (Davis and Nixon, 2010).
“Hear Me Now” features compelling and informative on-camera interviews with Columbine survivor Craig Scott, anti-bullying activist Kirk Smalley, who tragically lost his son to suicide, and dozens who have been affected by bullying and continue to be affected, giving viewers a candid look inside the world of bullying and the inspiration to find hope amidst the darkness.Director Bill Cornelius speaks about the film: “The inspiration came from my own personal experiences with bullying when I was in middle school. Like many, those experiences had a lasting impact on my life,” he mentions. “Since then, I’ve wanted to leverage my work in the film industry to help those dealing with the same issues that I once dealt with.”
Surprisingly, although bullying is a huge problem in many schools, the producers found that institutions were reluctant to participate in the production.
“Bullying seems to be a very taboo subject for many American schools and, unfortunately, they feel the best course of action is to sweep the issue under the rug with hopes that it goes away,” Cornelius states. “We found that the schools that were very open and receptive to us all had some form of anti-bullying program in place, which I think is very telling.”
About the producers:
Bill Cornelius is an award-winning filmmaker, music video director, writer, and visual artist whose work, including the Emmy-nominated “Nashville Rises”, has appeared on CMT, FOX, PBS, and in numerous film festivals across the nation. Having dealt with bullying himself while in middle school, his experiences have fueled his desire to help others and tackle the subject matter in a creative and effective way.
Zac Adams is an Emmy-winning filmmaker who owns and operates Skydive Films in Nashville, TN. Adams specializes in music videos, television, documentaries, and feature films. His newest feature, “Iron Will”, is narrated by Academy Award winner Billy Bob Thornton.
Steven C. Knapp has been obsessed with the moving picture since first grade. Being a visual artist and creative entrepreneur means he frequently uses his left and right brains. His company, knapptimecreative, creates projects in the entertainment, advertising, and non-profit industries. His most recent documentary film project about the Nashville in Harmony LGBT chorus was a nominee for the Nashville Film Festival’s coveted Tennessee Horizon Audience Choice Award. As a producer of many local and national video projects, including “Hear Me Now,” Knapp is excited for the opportunity to inspire, heal, and give hope to those who, like him, have experienced bullying in their lives.
Mike Stryker, owner of Casting Life Films, two time Emmy nominated and one time Emmy winner, Grammy nominated, 9-time Golden Addy Award winner, and two-time silver Telly winner for producing, directing and cinematography. Stryker is passionate about producing “Hear Me Now” because it truly gives the world a cinematic opportunity to see the positive change that exists in order to shed light upon the future of our youth for stopping this world epidemic of bullying.