Film about Austin Police Department's handling of sexual assault to premiere at SXSW

An Army of Women documents several plaintiffs' successful legal efforts to hold police, prosecutor accountable

A new documentary reveals how inadequate one Texas police department and district attorney’s office is in handling allegations of sexual assault. 

An Army of Women, which will premiere at SXSW next week, follows several victims and their lawyers as they seek restorative justice from the Austin Police Department, which didn’t dedicate or prosecute those crimes adequately. 

Julie Lunde Lillesaeter, the film's director, had lived in Austin for a year before learning about the lawsuit. She thought the system had failed after reading the case and the corresponding press coverage. 

“There didn't seem to be anyone in charge who were willing to make the changes that were needed,” Lillesaeter said. “And so I became interested in following the lawsuit to see what the outcome might be because I knew that it would be a really difficult case to win.” 

The documentary is poignant and gripping. The three central women are Amy, Marina, and Hanna, whose cases were dismissed by the Austin Police. They joined 12 other women in a class-action lawsuit that argued sexual assault isn’t prosecuted because it’s a crime that predominantly affects. 

“Unfortunately, it’s not unique to Austin,” Lillesaeter said. “It's quite common across cities and towns in the US that the vast majority of survivors will never get justice through the criminal justice system. And so it is something that happens everywhere.” 

The City of Austin settled a lawsuit in 2022 when its city council voted to approve a settlement with 15 women who alleged there were failures in the handling of investigations into sexual assaults that occurred between 2006 and 2019.  The settlement comprises a payment of $825,000 to be shared among the 15 plaintiffs and an additional $50,000 to the plaintiffs’ attorneys. The City will also issue an official apology to the plaintiffs. 

The City also commissioned an independent, external audit of City practices from the Police Executive Research Forum, Women’s Law Project, and Wellesley Centers for Women. It announced a list of reforms that it will implement on its website. 

“This film proves that you can fight the system for what is right and win,” Lillesaeter said. “And I really want the film to be able to drive some important conversations on the injustices that are faced by sexual assault survivors. And to show that through resilience, and solidarity, the systems that fail us can can be changed. And so, to me, it's a really hopeful story.”