Left Write Hook now streaming on Netflix
Award-winning feature documentary Left Write Hook, directed by Dr Shannon Owen, is now streaming on Netflix Australia.
Co-produced by Dr Owen and Dr Donna Lyon from the Victorian College of the Arts with Alice Burgin and Gal Greenspan, the film follows eight female and gender diverse participants of Left Write Hook, a unique initiative founded by Dr Lyon that equips adult victim-survivors of sexual violence to actively take back power in group settings through a survivor-led, research-informed program blending creative writing and boxing. The film centres trauma-informed and socially responsible storytelling practices as a foundational filmmaking methodology.
Funded by Screen Australia and other screen industry partners in 2022 and produced in 2022-2023, Left Write Hook premiered in August 2024 as the Melbourne International Film Festival’s inaugural ‘Premiere with Purpose’.
The film has since won multiple awards, including the 2024 MIFF Intrepid Audience Award and the Best Feature Documentary award at the 2025 Australian International Documentary Awards. It has also received positive media coverage, including a four-star review in Screenhub. Left Write Hook was released in cinemas nationally in October 2024.
Dr Shannon Owen said: “Making films in this way means deeply engaging with the embedded tensions around responsibility, risk and uncertainty. The response we’ve had to the film so far demonstrates the payoffs of this approach. We are thrilled with the Netflix release which exponentially extend the film’s audience, and with it a much-needed conversation about the prevalence and impacts of childhood sexual abuse.”