American biographical drama film 'She Said' explores the investigation that took down Harvey Weinstein

'She Said' recounts the beginnings of Harvey Weinstein's downfall but at its core, the new film is an ode to investigative journalism and the bravery of the women who spoke out against the former entertainment mogul.

Weinstein -- sentenced to 23 years in prison for sex crimes in New York, as he stands trial on 11 more charges in Los Angeles -- once frequented the halls of the New York Film Festival, where 'She Said' premiered this week. But five years after his career ended in disgrace it was Ashley Judd, the actor and activist who was one of the first figures to publicly accuse Weinstein of sexual harassment, who received a standing ovation at Manhattan's Lincoln Center.

In the film by German director Maria Schrader, Ashley Judd plays herself: an actor who rejects the sexual advances of a powerful producer, and pays the price over the course of her career, before years later coming out against him.

"It's so important to be in our truth and to have our righteousness to our story," Judd said during a panel at the film's screening in New York, paying tribute to her "sisters" who were also victims of Weinstein.

On October 5, 2017, The New York Times published a bombshell article from Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, who had spent months developing it. It triggered the undoing of the once untouchable Hollywood producer, as the #MeToo movement prompted scores of women to speak out against sexual violence and sexism in the workplace, its impact reaching far beyond the world of cinema.

But 'She Said' -- a script adapted from the eponymous book the two Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists wrote -- spends little time on the investigation's repercussions. Like 1976's 'All The President's Men' about the Watergate scandal, or 2016's 'Spotlight,' which centred on the Boston Globe journalists who broke hundreds of stories about paedophilia in the Catholic church, 'She Said' focuses on the dogged, patient work of investigative journalism. (Agencies)

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