NEW YORK, NY — A highly charged, emotionally intense project is heading to the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival under the HBO and George Clooney banner is truly a must watch.
Surviving Ohio State, an HBO documentary by Clooney and director Eva Orner, examines decades of sexual abuse by Ohio State doctor Richard Strauss and the survivors’ ongoing fight for accountability.
The film premieres at Tribeca, entering the conversation at the crossroads of sports, power, and responsibility.
A 20-Year Pattern of Abuse — and a Long Shadow
Surviving Ohio State is a survivor-centered look at allegations that Strauss abused hundreds at the university over 20 years.
Instead of discussing the case in abstract, the documentary grounds its story in the voices of those who lived it. Survivors share their experiences, lasting trauma, and quest for belief, providing the documentary’s emotional core.
Alleged Cover-Up and the Question of Who Knew
Besides covering the abuse, Surviving Ohio State examines the system and university culture that survivors claim enabled Strauss.
The film explores claims that Ohio State officials, including former assistant wrestling coach and current Congressman Jim Jordan, knew of the misconduct but did not act. These allegations are set against a backdrop of what survivors call a years-long university cover-up.
By blending survivor testimony with university timelines, Surviving Ohio State shows how repeated warnings, in survivors’ view, were allegedly ignored, enabling ongoing abuse.
Legal Battles and a 2019 Investigation
The film covers the legal developments, including a 2019 investigation that led to over $60 million in survivor payments. While it acknowledged the abuse’s scope, many survivors believe true accountability remains elusive.
The documentary conveys that the story continues, spotlighting current lawsuits and affirming that compensation alone doesn’t equal justice. Survivors say key questions about responsibility persist.
Trauma, Memory, and the Long Road to Accountability
Though grounded in legal events, the film’s heart is the personal toll. Surviving Ohio State focuses on the trauma endured by victims: effects on families, careers, mental health, and self-identity.
Letting survivors speak in their own words, the film shows that abuse of this scale creates long-lasting harm, and that seeking accountability becomes a second, arduous journey.
Clooney and Orner: High-Profile Backing for Difficult Truths
With Clooney as producer and Orner as director, Surviving Ohio State has a strong documentary pedigree and HBO’s broad reach. Orner brings her investigative style to the merging of sports, institutional power, and politics. Clooney’s backing signals a broader intent: this is a wide-ranging study of how powerful organizations confront—or ignore—abuse.
Tribeca Premiere and Broader Impact
Premiering at Tribeca in 2025, Surviving Ohio State arrives as audiences and institutions still grapple with #MeToo, sports abuse scandals, and the limits of institutional reform.
By focusing on the survivors’ voices and the ensuing legal fallout—including the 2019 investigation and ongoing suits—the documentary serves as both a record and an indictment: of the events, their causes, and the challenge of change.
Surviving Ohio State is not an easy watch. With survivor accounts, investigative framing, and institutional critique, it stands as one of the festival’s most notable nonfiction films—likely to echo beyond New York on HBO’s global stage.
