Film
A Better Man
A Better Man documents co-director Attiya Khan’s restorative process with Steve, the man who abused her for two years. Attiya engaged Tod Augusta Scott to support the conversations between the two of the them to achieve justice for herself. This process allows women to define what the harms have been on them and what the men can do to repair and heal these harms. The film outlines the restorative process where men can acknowledge what they have done, study the impact of the abuse so they can meaningfully repair the damage caused and, finally, help them create a plan to prevent it happening again.
Tod Augusta Scott at the American premiere of A Better Man at DOC NYC.
In 2019, New York Magazine’s publication Vulture named the documentary as one of the best films of the previous decade. Also the film won the Docs & Teens award at Docs Barcelona Film Festival in Spain. The co-director of the film Attiya Khan won the 2019 Women of Distinction Award for Social Justice from YMCA Toronto. The film also screened at the Berlin Feminist Film Festival.
The film continues to be screened nationally and internationally in numerous university classrooms and various community settings. It also continues to be broadcast on TV Ontario (TVO) and is available to be streamed online from NFB. The world premiere was at Hot Docs in Toronto. The American premiere was at DOC NYC.
How to watch A Better Man
In Canada, A Better Man can be viewed without cost on TV Ontario’s website.
Outside of Canada, the film can be rented or purchased through Apple ITunes.
Reviews for A Better Man
“The film manages to be simultaneously agonizing and hopeful… it is revelatory to know these kinds of [restorative] conversations are possible. ”
— Macleans Magazine
“The documentary is a bold intervention into the systematic ways that women are taught to remain silent about domestic violence while abusers are written off as irredeemably evil.”
— The Globe & Mail
“Explores a painful subject intelligently and respectfully.”
— Toronto Star
“The documentary’s cleverness is that it resists the roundness of resolution or catharsis.”
— The New Yorker
“There is a lot of raw emotion in this film and there is a lot of hope. Thank you for making this film. Thank you very much for being so honest.”
— Anna Maria Tremonti, The Current, CBC Radio
“An intensely personal documentary that’s often difficult to watch. But the film isn’t just about one woman, about one relationship: it’s a call to action for abusive men to stand up and take responsibility for their anger and their actions.”
