When: Friday, 7 November 2025 at 7:00pm
Where: Hyatt Regency Minneapolis, Northstar Ballroom A
Dear Lara is a deeply personal documentary that exposes decades of sexual abuse and institutional complicity in the classical music world.
The story begins in 2019, when renowned violinist Lara St. John speaks out about the sexual assault she endured at age 14 at the prestigious Curtis Institute. After her account is published in The Philadelphia Inquirer, she is flooded with letters and outreach from fellow survivors. Determined to make these voices heard, Lara travels across North America and Europe to meet others who, like her, were failed by the very institutions meant to protect them. As these testimonies accumulate, a pattern emerges of organizations shielding predators at the expense of the vulnerable.
Blending unflinching testimony, investigative rigor, expressive animation, and a haunting original score composed by Lara herself, the film exposes entrenched practices of harm and cover-ups rooted in power, silence, and the preservation of reputation over justice.
The screening will be followed by a filmmaker conversation and audience discussion.
Watch the TrailerAbout the Filmmakers
Lara St. John, Director
Lara St. John is a renowned violinist who has performed with major orchestras around the world for more than four decades. In 2019, after publicly revealing her assault at age 14 by her teacher at the Curtis Institute, she became a leading advocate for accountability in classical music. Since then, she has spoken out at rallies, in the press, and through formal testimony – including before the Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee – in support of survivors and legislative reform. With Dear Lara, she turns the camera on her own story and those of many others to expose the patterns of abuse and complicity that have long gone unchallenged in the world she knows so well.
Lara began playing violin at age two and made her first solo appearance with orchestra at four. Her European debut took place at age ten. Described as a “high-powered soloist” by The New York Times and “something of a phenomenon” by The Strad, she has performed and recorded internationally with orchestras including the Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, and the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra, among many others. She has been featured in People, U.S. News and World Report, Strings, NPR’s All Things Considered, the BBC, CBC, CNN, and on the covers of multiple major music publications. In 1999, Lara founded Ancalagon Records – the first independent classical label of its kind – and has since released more than a dozen albums.
Her many honors include a Juno Award for Classical Album of the Year (2011), Best Music Video at the Toronto International Short Film Festival (2017), and her investiture into the Order of Canada (2020) for “service to society and innovations that ignite the imagination.”
Dear Lara is her directorial debut.
Patrick Hamm, Producer
Patrick Hamm is an award-winning documentary producer known for films that fuse bold storytelling with urgent social themes. A Berlinale Talents and EURODOC alumnus, his credits include Who I Am Not (SXSW, CPH:Dox; PBS POV), This Rain Will Never Stop (IDFA, True/False), and Freedom For The Wolf (Slamdance, IDFA). He also executive produced Dark Secrets of a Trillion Dollar Island (BBC/Arte), Copwatch (Tribeca; Amazon), and the narrative feature The Man Who Was Thursday (Edinburgh IFF). Patrick holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Harvard and a B.A. from Yale. He works across line production, story consulting, cinematography, and occasional editing. He is co-captain of documentary features at Slamdance and serves on the Cinema for Peace jury. Industry affiliations include the Producers Guild of America (PGA), the Documentary Producers Alliance (DPA), The International Quorum of Motion Picture Producers (IQ), and the Global Impact Producers Alliance (GIPA).
Christie Herring, Editor
Christie Herring is an award-winning filmmaker, producer, and editor who has worked in documentary film for over 25 years. Her work broaches complex political and cultural subjects, reaching national and international audiences through outlets including the Tribeca Film Festival, PBS and major streaming services, and the White House and US Embassies around the world. She directed The Campaign (PBS), which followed California’s battle over queer marriage equality, and Singing for Justice (PBS, with Estelle Freedman), featuring political and musical renegade Faith Petric. Recent editing and producing credits include The Big Scary “S” Word (Hulu, editor/co-producer), Code: Debugging the Gender Gap (Tribeca, editor/producer), 23 Mile (True/False, producer), One Person One Vote (PBS, consulting editor/co-producer), Death Is Our Business (PBS Frontline, finishing editor), Bias (Amazon, editor/producer), and Point of No Return (PBS NOVA, editor). Christie is a member and former Steering Committee Chair of New Day Films, and she received her BA from Duke University and her MA in Documentary Filmmaking from Stanford University.
Sanjana Bhambhani, Associate Producer
Sanjana Bhambhani is a New York-based multimedia journalist and the Associate Producer of Dear Lara. She led investigative research for the film, drawing on her experience uncovering police misconduct as Multimedia Lead at MuckRock’s Behind The Badge. Her work has appeared on the BBC, The Rachel Maddow Show, Velshi on MSNBC, New York Focus, and Columbia News Service. Sanjana’s short documentary Mr. Blanks: A Life on Parole won multiple awards at festivals. She previously produced science, space, and history features for the BBC, earning international syndication. A graduate of Columbia Journalism School and NYU, she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and has been recognized for her reporting, investigative work, and leadership in women’s media.