Boston producer Matthew Valentinas wanted to shine a light on allegations of pedophilia practiced by some of the movie world’s rich and powerful, so he enlisted Berg to make a film about it. The result, “An Open Secret,” played at the New York Doc Fest last November to an appreciative audience and received favorable reviews.

Documentarians have taken on the most formidable institutions in the United States by focusing on the issue of sexual abuse and exploring charges that it has been covered up and permitted. The military in Kirby Dick’s “The Invisible War” (2012), academia in Amir Bar-Lev’s “Happy Valley” (2014) and in Dick’s “The Hunting Ground” (2015), and the Catholic Church in Amy Berg’s “Deliver Us From Evil” (2006) — all have given up their secrets.


Since then, nothing.

Only recently has Valentinas been able to find distributors: Rocky Mountain Films and Vesuvio Entertainment. They will open it in Seattle and Denver on Friday and expand to other cities, including Boston, this summer. All profits from the film will be donated to The Courage to Act Foundation, which serves victims of sexual abuse in the entertainment industry.

Valentinas discussed the difficulty of cracking the Hollywood code of silence in a phone call from his car.

Q. How did you get involved in this?

A. My partner wanted to make a film about sex abuse, and we were looking for a focus. One day I heard Corey Feldman on a show talking about Corey Haim’s death and [allegations of] pedophilia in Hollywood. I had worked in LA for many years and I had heard rumors. So we chose Hollywood, in part also because it offered many interview subjects and we could shoot there and save costs. And Hollywood has a built-in audience appeal. Finally, unlike with the church or Penn State, no one is likely to come out and defend Hollywood.


Q. But it didn’t work out that way.

A. We approached most studios and everyone passed. We thought, we have a great director, everything was cleared and legally vetted — why would it be a risk for a company to take it?

I don’t think there is an organized effort against the film. But there’s a fear of stepping forward. It’s easier to let somebody else deal with it. But we know once it reaches the public other distributors will see the response and be interested.

Q. Your distributor, Rocky Mountain Films, has released right-wing films like Dinesh D’Souza’s “2016: Obama’s America.” Does that concern you?

A. No, because I think they just fell into putting out those films. But what they have is a really good network of theaters. And we liked what they did with “Obama’s America,” how it went from one theater to hundreds, and how they built a word of mouth campaign.

Q. Do you think they’ll draw an audience that sees Hollywood as an abomination?

A. If we can get that audience, great. We want all audiences.

Q. Do you see Hollywood that way?

A. Of course sexual abuse doesn’t only happen in Hollywood. It’s everywhere. But these pedophiles are so sophisticated – it’s almost like organized crime. It is really a network, and it’s scary.

For more information go to www.anopensecretfilm.com.