The opening film of the 28th TiDF is a timely documentary on the great value of the struggle for justice. Ask E. Jean, which will celebrate its international premiere in Thessaloniki, revolves around Elizabeth Jean Carroll, who sued Doland Trump for sexual assault and defamation, being the only woman to ever beat him, and twice as a matter of fact, in a courtroom. The film’s director Ivy Meeropol will honor the screening and the opening of the Festival with her presence.
The documentary unravels the adventurous life of the journalist and author, whose name became identified with the “New Journalism” trend in the American press, as she was the first acclaimed signature in “male-dominated” media such as Esquire or Playboy, but also the name behind the most long-lived column in Elle magazine. Jean Carroll also became the first woman that got a former US president to be convicted by court on charges of sexual abuse, and not just once but twice! Back in 2019 she had published the best-seller What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal, revealing fearlessly and with blazing passion the details of the assault that was inflicted on her.
Covering the distance from Jean Carroll’s younger years and her life as a cheerleader all the way to the time she wrote the biography of the legendary writer Hunter S. Thompson and her present-day career, Ivy Meeropol’s documentary outlines the portrait of a gifted personality: a woman who devoted her life to the true definition of emancipation and solidarity, proving to us all that it’s never too late to rewrite one’s history and try to change the world.
