How college students can watch Promising Young Woman for free

Carey Mulligan's Oscar-contending drama Promising Young Woman will be accessible to college students around the country for free ahead of the April 25 Academy Awards.

Distributor Focus Features has partnered with Campus Circle and the anti-rape organization RAINN — the nation's largest group standing against sexual violence — to host free screenings of the Emerald Fennell-directed movie for college students on Thursday. Stars Mulligan and Laverne Cox will discuss the film with Fennell in a post-screening conversation immediately following the presentation.

The decision was made to use the film — about a med school dropout who avenges a classmate's brutal assault — to highlight ongoing issues of sexual violence on college campuses, as, according to a press release, 13 percent of all students experience sexual assault or rape during school.

"Sexual violence can affect not only the survivor, but the people and communities around them. Promising Young Woman has sparked important conversations about the cultural response to sexual assault, healing, justice, and bystander accountability," said Campus Circle publisher Joy Calisoff. "We thank Focus Features for making Promising Young Woman available to college students, who are at increased risk of sexual violence, to continue this critical dialogue."

Earlier this year, the film made headlines for its impactful treatment of sexual violence on film, and the Academy responded by giving the film five Oscar nominations — including one for Best Director for Fennell, who made history alongside Nomadland's Chloé Zhao among a category that nominated two women for the first time in history.

"Emerald describes it as a beautifully wrapped piece of candy, but when you suck on it, you realize it's poisonous," Mulligan previously told EW of the film's themes. "Audiences will love it because it's so much fun. It's dark and challenging, but not in a boring, didactic way. You'll go have socially distanced supper [after watching], sit, and fight about it."

She continued, "You want a film that people talk about in years to come, not something that gets lost in the sea of awards season films."

Students can RSVP for the free screenings and post-show conversation here, which are set to take place Thursday at 7:00 p.m. local time.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.

Check out more from EW's The Awardist, featuring exclusive interviews, analysis, and our podcast diving into all the highlights from the year's best films.

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