HBO Max has teamed up with Vice Studios to produce a documentary about sorority recruitment week at the University of Alabama, known on TikTok as “Bama Rush,” according to The New York Times.
The documentary is now being made in Tuscaloosa, where rush week at the University of Alabama recently ended. It will explore “college life, sisterhood and all the joys and complexities of what it means to be a young woman today, following several women from the University of Alabama,” according to The Times.
“This film is a thoughtful and compassionate portrayal of young women in 2022 as they rush the sorority system at the University of Alabama,” director Rachel Fleit said in a statement via Vice.
Following claims that appeared on TikTok regarding sorority candidates found with covert recording devices during 2022 recruiting, The Times reported that “hidden microphones” are not used in the production.
“The university is aware of reports that outside parties have facilitated unauthorized recordings of our students involved in Panhellenic recruitment,” Shane Dorrill, an assistant director of communications at the University of Alabama, wrote in an email to The Times. “The university has not authorized any third-party entity to film, record or document any recruitment activities and does not allow media inside occupied buildings such as residence halls and sorority houses.”
Dorrill added the university was “not involved with this production,” noting it “finds these reported activities to be deplorable, especially when targeting recent high school graduates.”
The Times reports Vice has been working on the documentary ever since “Bama Rush” first gained notoriety on TikTok during the 2021 recruitment season.