Evan Rachel Wood Brings Survival Story To Sacramento In New Film

SACRAMENTO (March 15, 2022) — Actor and activist Evan Rachel Wood brings her story of surviving domestic violence all the way to the California Capitol in the new HBO documentary “Phoenix Rising.”

From director Amy Berg (“This Is Personal,” “An Open Secret”), the two-part film is now streaming on HBO Max. Wood chronicles in detail the excruciating experience of surviving abuse. But Berg and Wood’s collaboration is more than a collection of disturbing, stomach-turning, maddening stories about a serial abuser. It is about a woman channeling the strength to share the worst moments of her life — and taking action to protect others who have been through similar trauma.

“It was very important to Evan that this story educates, because domestic violence is something that is rarely talked about,” Berg said in January at the Sundance Film Festival, where part of the film premiered. “Evan was really candid about the moments in her life where she felt like, had she maybe had a little different information or education, she might’ve made different decisions.”

Known for her roles in the Emmy-winning series “Westworld” and Oscar favorites like “The Wrestler” and “The Ides of March,” Wood’s story comes from a familiar face in the film world. But “Phoenix Rising” is about more than a public figure sharing her personal stories with others to make them feel less alone; she brings the horrors of her experience to the legislative level.

In “Don’t Fall,” the title of part one, Wood and her fellow survivors speak in Sacramento on behalf of The Phoenix Act in 2019. The law extends the statute of limitations on domestic violence felonies from three years to five years, allowing survivors more time to press charges against their abusers. It is easily the most hopeful point of the documentary, but it will be clear to any viewer that this 34-year-old’s story is far from over. In her director’s statement, Berg writes that the film “celebrates a justice-seeker as she finds a new path forward, reckoning a painful past with a future that forges ahead despite the odds.”

In part two, entitled “Stand Up,” Wood delves deeper into the long-lasting trauma of experiencing abuse for so long, at a formative age. Berg expands the lens to include other survival stories, but part two mostly revolves around Wood summoning the strength to name her abuser after more than a year of death threats and controversy over her testimony at the Capitol.

“Just being in the room with her when she was going through this important moment in her life was an incredible event to witness,” Berg said.

Because of this brave, educational approach to filmmaking, we get to be there, too.