rakontur blog

Lisa Gier King, the former exotic dancer whose rape allegations against members of the Delta Chi fraternity at University of Florida were the subject of rakontur’s RAW DEAL: A QUESTION OF CONSENT, recently appeared on the TV show “Judge Judy.” Lisa never got a trial against the man she accused of assaulting her, but she finally got her day in court… Here’s the verdict:

[Read more →]

Thanks to Vincent Tang and Andrew Montell down at Acclaim Magazine in Australia:

[Read more →]

[Read more →]

The Miami Herald - Old Case Could Haunt Office Seeker

“As he campaigns for governor, Rod Smith touts his successful prosecution of serial killer Danny Rolling, sentenced to die for the murders of five University of Florida students.

But the former state attorney’s handling of another high-profile campus case that is now resurfacing could play a critical role as he courts one of the Democratic Party’s most influential constituencies: female voters.”

St. Petersburg Times - Volatile ‘99 Case a test for candidate

“A dancer says she was raped at a frat party. A prosecutor decides not to pursue sex assault charges. Now he’s running for governor. Amid uproar, was Rod Smith right?”

Variety - Inside Movie: A Question of Control

“Sundance doc will finally see daylight”

Variety - Controversial ‘Deal’ invites heated debate

“Raw Deal: A Question of Consent,” from Miami-based filmmakers Billy Corben and Alfred Spellman, made quite an impression with Sundance Film Festival audiences in January.”

The Miami Herald - Real Deal

“Documentary on UF rape case could be big break for a pair of Miami filmmakers”

The Miami Herald - Buzz Surrounds Young Producers of ‘Raw Deal’

“In their cut-off shorts, baseball caps and rolled up sleeves, Billy Corben and Alfred Spellman look like the kids next door. Believe me, they’re not.”

The Guardian - A Question of Consent
“A documentary featuring explicit video footage of an alleged rape presented some interesting problems for Channel 4. Adam Barker and Prash Naik explain why they decided to run it.”

Der Spiegel - Verfuhrung oder Vergewaltigung

The Scotsman - Rough Grainy Justice
“Every film-maker wants to be noticed, touch a nerve, provoke a storm. Next week the Edinburgh Film Festival will host the British premiere of Raw Deal: A Question of Consent, which, since its unveiling early this year at Robert Redford’s Sundance Film Festival, has been doing just that. “
The Scotsman - A Shocking Example to us All

“Scenes of drunken sex at a college fraternity party. Video footage of an alleged rape. The graphic and controversial material used in Raw Deal: A Question of Consent could be viewed as pornographic. But according to Edinburgh International Film Festival director Lizzie Francke, context is the key.”

The Palm Beach Post - Documentary Explores UF Rape Allegation

“It’s an ugly but true story about alleged rape, layers of lies, fraternity debauchery.

It’s about half-truths, politics at its worst, secret pornographic videotapes, small-town sleaze, less than sympathetic characters and possible legal shenanigans. It asks sordid yet important questions. It would make a disturbing movie.

In fact, it is a disturbing movie.”

The New York Times - Raw Deal: A Question of Consent

“A highly graphic account of a sordid rape case involving an exotic dancer, Billy Corben’s independent video production concerns what many considered to be an act of brutality on a college campus.”

[Read more →]

New York Post - Rape, Lies, and Videotapes

“Victim relives horror caught live on frathouse film”

New York Post - “Raw Deal” Furor Prompts Bidding Frenzy

“A bidding war erupted yesterday at the Sundance Film Festival as studios scrambled to buy a documentary containing shocking footage of frat-house sex, including an alleged rape. ”

LA Times - Sex Case Documentary Sirring Up Audiences

“Explicitness of footage shot during campus incident has angered some moviegoers.”

Entertainment Weekly - Sundance Film Festival Recap

“It’s the ultra-explicit reality show you’ll never see on TV - a shockumentary that forever shatters the boundaries of what a theatrical feature can, should, and will depict.”

The Nation - The West Indies

“Once Raw Deal played Sundance, the New York Post splashed it all over its front page…”

Financial Times - Day 3 Raw Deal

“No film festival is complete without controversy.”

The Scotsman - City Hosts UK’s First Showing of ‘Rape’ Film

“A controversial documentary including footage of an alleged rape is set to have what could be its only British showing at the Film Festival from tonight.”

St. Petersburg Times - The Surreal Whirl that is Sundance

“Alfred Spellman’s and Billy Corben’s documentary Raw Deal: A Question of Consent arrived at the festival on a whirlwind of controversy and left with a distribution deal.”

St. Petersburg Times - FIlm Documents Controversial UF Fraternity Party

“Two Miami filmmakers are making waves at a prestigious film festival with a documentary based on a 1999 incident at a University of Florida fraternity house.”

Orlando Weekly - “No” Means “Go”

“The Florida Film Festival encountered unexpected controversy Tuesday, when a legal representative of Artisan Entertainment allegedly faxed festival staffers a 23-page “cease and desist” order mandating that they not screen the documentary Raw Deal: A Question of Consent, which was scheduled to be shown that night at the Colonial Promenade.”

Orlando Sentinel - Dispute Nearly Stops Edgy Film

“The show did go on Tuesday night at the 11th annual Florida Film Festival. But it almost didn’t. Because of a dispute between the filmmakers and the company that claims North American distribution rights, Raw Deal: A Question of Consent was nearly pulled from the festival program at the Colonial Promenade 6. “

The Hot Button - “One of the Most Important Documentaries in at Least a Decade”

“Raw Deal: A Question of Consent is everything the buzz says it is and more.”

City Beat - Five of the best films from Sundance 2001 are coming to a theater near you

City Beat - Party on Dude!

“Can’t Buy Me Buzz. The headline of the Jan. 25 New York Post says it all: “Rape, Lies and Videotape — Victim relives horror caught live on frat house tape.” With that one story, Raw Deal: A Question of Consent, a documentary about an accused rape at the University of Florida, has become the official “buzz” film of Sundance 2001.”

[Read more →]

Film Threat

“One of the most compelling pieces of non-fiction ever produced.”

Variety

“Compulsively watchable”

The Scotsman

“A remarkable documentary.”

The Miami Herald

“Disturbing, utterly absorbing”

Yahoo! Movies

“One of the most powerful docs I’ve ever seen.”

Glasgow Herald

“This is a striking fear that offers no easy answers.”

Orlando Weekly

“A politically and emotionally charged documentary.”

iO Film

“A harrowing and unnerving experience.”

Spiked

“A remarkable documentary.”

[Read more →]

The surreal whirl that is Sundance

The parties, the poseurs, the iconoclasts,
the poultry - the Sundance Film Festival
has come of age as a festival where
miracles dance cheek-to-cheek with absurdity.

By JESSICA HUNDLEY

Most pre-festival notoriety

Alfred Spellman’s and Billy Corben’s documentary Raw Deal: A Question of Consent arrived at the festival on a whirlwind of controversy and left with a distribution deal.

Exploring the case of a wild University of Florida fraternity party that led to rape accusations, Raw Deal included portions of a video made at the party. Protests of that creative strategy by the Gainesville chapter of the National Organization for Women brought more attention to the footage.

So Sundance welcomed the chance to show the film, NOW simmered on the sidelines and two 22-year-old filmmakers — both students at the University of Miami — strutted straight into the spotlight.

Reactions were mixed. One audience member snidely referred to it as “the first press screening of the Bush administration.” However, the film was purchased for distribution by Artisan Entertainment, whose previous Sundance acquisitions included the enormously successful The Blair Witch Project.

[Read more →]

Raw Deal: A Question of Consent

Directed by Billy Corben

The sexually correct “no-means-no” ideology of contemporary dating takes on new meaning in Miami producers Alfred Spellman and Billy Corben’s politically and emotionally charged documentary, “Raw Deal: A Question of Consent.” The film explores a sordid night in February, 1999, when a group of Delta Chi frat boys at the University of Florida hired a pair of strippers for an alcohol-soaked after-pledge party. The next morning, Lisa Gier King ran from the frat house, alleging she had been raped. When police investigated, they found that the party boys had videotaped the evening’s “revelries.” The tape led to King’s arrest for making a false accusation. The result: a massive media outcry from victims and feminist advocates.

The extreme nature of what happened at the frat house that night makes the story difficult to tell. Director Corben edits the interview footage with finesse. When we are finally shown the contents of the “rape sequence” at length, it is not easy to watch. Rarely has sex looked so ugly.

The genuine creepiness of accused attacker Michael Yahraus, the way in which the Alachua County State Attorney’s office refused to cooperate with the filmmakers, the sliminess of Delta Chi pledge master Anthony Marzullo, and King’s wide-eyed insistence that she had been victimized all slant viewer sympathies in her direction. But should they?

This is a film that winds up chronicling the netherworld between consensual sex and rape. Perhaps unconsciously, “Raw Deal” plants the idea that our society might need another word for a physical act between two adults that isn’t quite rape but isn’t quite consenting sex either. And, for that, “Raw Deal” offers up a redeeming value.

[Read more →]

[Read more →]

[Read more →]