UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State School of Theatre alumna Jacqueline Elyse Rosenthal is raising awareness and support for sexual assault survivors with her international award-winning film, “Backlog.”
“Backlog” tells the true story of Valerie Neumann, who was date-raped in college in 2006, leading her to testify at a 2010 U.S. Senate hearing after her rape kit was backlogged.
According to Rosenthal, the “backlog” that the film refers to is a backlog of millions of untested rape kits in the United States due to a lack of legislative action to support assault survivors.
“I made this film because I, a woman who was sexually assaulted, didn’t even know about the backlog — because I chose not to get a rape kit,” Rosenthal said. “We have an opportunity to do better, and we really should.”
Rosenthal graduated from Penn State in 2013 with a bachelor of fine arts in musical theatre and later received her master of fine arts in film production from the University of Southern California.
While the film took almost a year from pre-production to post-production, the wait was worth it, according to Rosenthal.
“I’m really proud of the work and time we put in,” Rosenthal said. “We actually won an outstanding sound design faculty award for 'Backlog,' and the film has placed at roughly 20 film festivals in its short three-month run.”
While she received her master’s in film production from USC, Rosenthal first went to Penn State to study musical theatre.
According to Rosenthal, Penn State’s musical theatre program is competitive, in some ways more so than the outside world, due to the vast amount of talent in the program.
“I think having to push myself to only compete against myself was a very important lesson I learned from Penn State musical theatre and carry with me for life,” she said.
Through Penn State, Rosenthal learned that “art is not a perfect science” and that some of the best performances or rehearsals in her favorite classes happened through “happy accidents.”
“Backlog” is just the start as Rosenthal has three short films and two feature films in various stages of development right now.
While “Backlog” has received strong support since its release, with thousands of people seeking out Rosenthal to talk about their own struggles with assault, she is not stopping there.
Rosenthal has created a change.org petition seeking to reform the criminal justice system's approach to sexual assault survivors and end the backlog of untested rape kits.
For more on the film, visit its website: backlogfilm.org.