THE winners of a hard-hitting short film which shows the devastating impact male rape has on its victim have been announced during an awards ceremony at the University of Sunderland.

Talk to Me was part of a series of short films created by students in collaboration with Northumbria Police and Sexual Assault Referral Centre who were looking at ways to raise awareness and support males who find themselves the victims of a sexual crime.

This is the sixth year that Sunderland students have been supported by the Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria, Dame Vera Baird, to collaborate with Northumbria Police in raising awareness about an issue impacting on society.

There were three entries by final year students from the performing arts and digital film production degree courses, who researched, scripted, devised, filmed and edited all of the three films themselves.

The winning team, whose production focused on a male rape in a heterosexual setting, were unveiled at a screening of all the entries at the David Puttnam Media Centre, Sir Tom Cowie Campus at St Peter’s.

Dame Vera said: “All these films are profoundly moving. They get across the victims’ sense of trauma, isolation and inability to talk – and how their experience has affected their behaviour, relationships and how they feel about themselves.

“Women are, in the main, the focus of rape – because they are most often the victim of rape. But that is part of the issue – rape is seen as something that only happens to women and it’s already hard for men to talk to other men.

“The films are impactful and you can see the research the students have done. It can’t have been easy to do, to understand the issue and be able to show its ramifications.”

Vice-Chancellor Sir David Bell added: “For our students, having the opportunity to work on a live client brief, and on a project with the real potential to impact upon the community is, of course, excellent experience. But more important than that, it achieves what is at our University’s core – a commitment to make a positive impact on society.”

Latest estimates show that more than one in 10 victims of rape or attempted rape every year are men. However, male-on-male rape has been heavily stigmatised, fewer than one in 10 are reported and few come forward to seek help.