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"Lee Hirsch, the director of the documentary Bully, has taken to Reddit to do one of the site's famous 'Ask Me Anything' crowdsourced interviews. \nThe filmmaker will be answering questions about the film, the concept of bullying, and any other question that Redditors may ask \u2014 which are known to sometimes be a bit odd.\nThe film, which documents the victims of childhood bullying and their families, has drummed up awareness through a multi-platform social campaign. Hirsch has advertised the AMA on his other social platforms as well.\nHere are some of the more compelling questions Hirsch has answered so far.\nAsk Me Anything: Documentary Filmmaker Lee Hirsch \nartventurer: What drove you to make this film?\nAs a kid, I was bullied, and it is an issue I have an extremely deep connection to.\nJohnWad: Did you meet, Katy Butler..a fellow Michigander lol, the girl who petitioned to have the rating changed? The newspaper here in Michigan did a huge story on her this past sunday. It was in the Detroit Free Press, if you care to read it.She sounds like an amazing girl.\nJohn, I did and she is wonderful and has become an incredible part of this movement!\nmrpibbandredvines: Why did you decide to go into documentary filmmaking, and what are some documentaries that personally inspire you?\nI felt like filmmaking was the next step in extending my interest in work as an activist. I felt it was such a powerful medium that took my work to the next level. When I made my film \"Amandla\" about the power of song in the fight against apartheid in South Africa, I was really moved by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky \"Brother's Keeper\".\nBret16: Who is your biggest influence both as a filmmaker and as a person? Also, if you could be any animal, what would you be?\nNelson Mandela and a giraffe!\nlovexsongs:What was the most shocking thing that you experienced while filming Bully?How did you find the schools you went to for filming? All schools have bullies, but did you do research to find schools that were particularly extreme?Thanks for the AMA!\nThe whole experience was shocking, but the hardest by far was being with families who had lost their child to suicide. As for finding the schools, we reached out to many schools, and we were fortunate enough to find Sioux City schools who allowed us an entire year of access!\nVdra: In regards to how you are replying to those asking you about last night's South Park episode:LeeHirsch2: We are going to be making it free for thousands of kids across the country! Hundreds have already seen it for free !!I'm not sure if you are trying to dodge the question, or you don't understand the conveying message in the episode. Saying thousands of kids will be seeing it for free is very miniscule for a box office release. A quick search says we have around 20 million children in U.S schools today between the ages 12-17 in where you might find bullying. So who are the lucky thousand who get to see the movie for free? Will they be watching the movie in school or given free movie tickets to the show? I still don't think you answered South Park's question properly though: If this movie is so important, why don't you just release it on the internet for free?\nAs you know, this is indeed a business, and it takes money and time to produce such a film. I have dedicated 3 1/2 years of my life to make sure this film is used as a tool against this epidemic. We have a distributor, without whom you probably would not have ever heard of this film, who is working tirelessly to get it to as many locations across the country as possible. We will also be announcing a program soon, one that you may like, that will help get even more kids to see this film for free."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2012/04/13/bully-director-reddit/>