This film does not examine the effects of online bullying. Online bullying is 8% of this film. This film is a story of two 14 year old girls who had such horrible parents that they were allowed to get drunk/high and drive over to 17 year old boys' houses, where again parents were not around as they got drunk/high, and then the boys took advantage of the girls and had forced sex with them while the girls were passed out. All the while sad music plays and still photos of girls with sad faces and cloudy-day videos of small towns are littered with popup posts from twitter and facebook of people trolling the individuals involved with the cases (to which there are no sources, so it definitely leaves the viewer wondering if they are fabricated). The filmmakers fail with this documentary because they refused to dive deeper into the cases and learn about the other sides of the story. This is very one-sided... but that is intentional as it portrays teenage depression and angst associated with statutory rape. The worst aspect of this documentary is that the parents were never held responsible for their underage children's actions. All throughout the film the parents are talking about all the bad things that happened to their children, but one can't help but to wonder why the filmmakers never asked these parents why they are such horrible parents. This definitely falls under the liberal female-empowerment retribution category, but even there it does not do the topic any justice because it is one-sided, biased, and caters to the idea that parents play no role in the self-destruction of their teenage children.

As the father of a little girl, I recommend parents everywhere to watch this movie. This movie addresses the sad reality that many teenage girls in the United States (Yes, right under our noses) are being sexually assaulted by none other than their classmates or male friends. And due to political or peer pressure reasons, these cases are often dismissed... and the girls ignored--sometimes, even bullied and condemned as liars.

Firstly, my rating of the movie is no means a reflection of my stance on the issue.The subject of the movie is gripping and definitely an eye-opener. However, my beef is with the storytelling. It lacks the fluidity that it sometimes took away the "punch" that the subject is capable of delivering. There were times (especially in the first part) were the movie jumps from one POV to another that it felt disjointed.But this movie is still potent and if you have the patience to finish it, two things stand out: 1- Technology has enabled teens to take bullying to alarming heights. One can argue that there is technology by itself is not evil but those who use it. BUT these are children we are talking about... children who are yet to come to terms with the full responsibility of free speech and free information. Just like how parents try to control the movie/shows that their children consume, parents now have an added responsibility of making sure they censor the information they access through social media and the internet. It's scary how these kids use technology (without even thinking) to scar each other... scars which they will carry to adulthood.It's also alarming how our understanding of reality is shifting. Before the internet, news organizations have the responsibility of distributing the truth behind each news. But with the proliferation of different social media, there's an amount of mob mentality. The side which gets the most "share" or "likes" becomes the "truth"... which is okay if everyone is responsible and accountable to whatever they post and broadcast on their profiles. But alas, we're still far from that day.2- In this day and age, it's repugnant to see that rape/sexual assault victims are still treated like they are partly responsible for what happened. This was most pronounced in Daisy Coleman's case. I cannot fathom how the whole town turned on her. She's only 14!!! Even if it was consensual, it is not okay for an older guy to have sex with a 14 year old(in this case, 17 years old... underage but he still should have known better)! And the fact that she was intoxicated, it means she's not in her right mind to consent to anything which makes it RAPE! The physical evidence is there! There's also an eyewitness account! It's mind boggling how the sheriff and the DA did not find any case against Matt B! The movie ended harping on this note. It's definitely a powerful message. However, I think it should have brought both points together. After all, the movie is not just about rape/sexual assault. It's about a much larger issue: The vulnerability of children to ANY kind of assault (sexual or otherwise) in the age of social media. I kinda wish the directors offered an actionable message that we can unite behind.My heart bleeds for Audrie, Daisy and all the girls... but more so for a whole generation of kids who are exposed to an unfiltered world even before they are ready.Lastly, I hope the sheriff and the whole town of Maryville watches this and FINALLY realize what they have overlooked!

Viewed by Larry Gleeson at AFIDOCS 2016.Audrie & Daisy, a new documentary co-directed by Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk, takes an in-depth look at the effects of cyber bullying following the aftermath when two teenage girls are sexually assaulted. The girls went to parties, drank alcohol to excess and were then sexually assaulted by boys and young men they believed were their friends. The shame and scorn the girl were subjected to resulted in a suicide of a Saratoga, Georgia high school student, Audrie, who believed her reputation was beyond repair. The culprits in the assault eventually reached a plea agreement so the young men could graduate from high school. The agreement included an admission of guilt and a public apology as well as a 45 minute videotaped interview. In the case of Audrie, a Missouri resident in the small town of Maryville in Nodaway County, all charges were dropped in a highly publicized news reported court judgement.Cohen and Shenk open the film with a slow pan of empty desks in a classroom as a voice over about the Audrey case begins. A cut is made to a high school football practice with the diagetic sounds of grunting, helmets and pads colliding and thudding with the sounds of whistles chirping. An audio deposition of Jon B., not the perpetrator's real name, is heard as an image shows the critical information of what is occurring in a black and white frame as the film's narrative is slowly opening. In a taped 2015 interview, Audrey's mother and father, Larry and Sheila Pott talk candidly about Audrey while pictures of Audrey range from the time she was a baby up into her high school years. Sheila reminisced how she and Audrey cooked together while they watched the food network together. Audrey's best friend from the time of middle school, Amanda Le, opened up about their experiences together through adolescence. Le remembers Audrey developed early physically and by high school was well developed. A group of boys from junior high began a Yahoo! group where they shared nude pictures of their classmates. Le stated Audrey received a lot of requests for pictures, however, as Audrey was quite self-conscious she didn't provide any pictures. Audrey was popular and had many friends. One night at a party Audrey drank too much. In a deposition, her "friend" stated her carried Audrey upstairs and laid her on a bed. Two other young men entered the room and closed the door. With Audrey, unmoving on the bed, the three boys stripped her naked. They took turns sexually assaulting her with their fingers. They painted half her face black and placed indelible lewd comments on her body. Photographs were taken and videos were recorded while Audrey laid defenseless.Through the use of textual overlays from conversations Audrey initiated with her "friend," Cohen and Shenk create a sense of real-time. Audrey does not recollect what happened and pleads with her friend and others to tell her what happened. Her "friend" tells her it will blow over in a week. Yet, when Audrey gets to school, she comes to a realization that everyone in school is aware of what happened and the images of her assaulted naked body have made their way online. Shamed and humiliated, Audrey feels her reputation is beyond repair and commits suicide.Daisy Coleman, a perky blonde-haired, blue-eyed freshman, and new to the small town of Maryville, Missouri also is subjected to shame, humiliation and ridicule following her sexual assault. Daisy and her 8th grade friend who according to an official police investigator looked about eight are invited to a "party." While at the party held in the basement of one of the three older high school males present, both girls are raped while incapacitated. The following morning Daisy is found on her home's lawn with her hair frozen to the grass. What unfolds in Daisy's story is the difficulty is prosecuting an assault without hard evidence. None of the males were over 17. A video was recorded and shared and subsequently deleted without means of retrieval. Consequently, all charges were dropped.Nevertheless, the maelstrom created by Daisy coming forth had severe repercussions for Daisy on social media. Slowly diminishing in spirit, Daisy began sinking further and further into the rabbit hole when a young woman who had endured and survived a similar sexual assault reached out to Daisy via social media. Delaney Henderson heard about Daisy and used the Facebook chat feature to tell Daisy she understood the feelings and what Daisy was going through. The two young women have started and joined a survivors' group facilitated by a professional counselor. In a Q & A following the screening, it was revealed Daisy Coleman received an athletic scholarship to Mountain Valley College. Daisy stated with strength and conviction, "I'm done with being mad. I finally wanted to move on. I'm not forgetting the past. I'm forgiving the past." High in production values complete with traditional interviews, archival news footage, original evidence-gathering investigation-room interviews, panning location shots, photographs as well as masked caricatures of the depositions, Audrie & Daisy, is a must-see documentary.