Based on a True Story

Based on my own firsthand experience with sexual assault and the subsequent judicial process, I returned to the very courtroom where my trial took place and re-enacted the scene, positioning myself as everyone present during the hearings.

We think of justice as a system, but it is also really just a room full of people.

When the general public is informed about a court case surrounding a crime, specifically (sexual) assault, the narrative that is told often centers around the actions of the perpetrator and becomes sensationalized by media. Within documentaries, movies and series ‘True Crime’ has become a booming genre. Even though everything is brought to light by the victims and their initial reports to the police, their role is often portrayed as a passive one. By emphasizing the human experience within the bureaucratic trial ‘Based on a True Story’ offers a contrast to current media sensationalism and its perpetrator-centric narrative. Bringing back the emotional depth to a place in which it was overshadowed by the legal process, it becomes an act of radical empathy and reclamation.