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\n\tAsk E. Jean<\/em><\/strong> by Ivy Meeropol is holding over for second week at IFC Center in New York after a full-house opening weekend and adding the NuArt in LA before expanding. Over 40 theaters are booked for the next month as the distributors build a network to support the documentary about the writer and former TV host who was awarded close to $90 million in two civil lawsuits against Donald Trump. <\/p>\n \n\tIn other indie action, A24\u2019s wide release Backrooms<\/em><\/strong>, shaping up to be the distributor\u2019s best domestic opening ever, leads new releases. Pressure<\/em><\/strong> from Focus Features hits 1,600 screens and Black Bear\u2019s Tuner<\/em> <\/strong>expands to 452. Lionsgate opens Power Ballad<\/em><\/strong> at ten locations. Limited releases include Hasan In Gaza<\/em><\/strong>, Time And Water<\/em><\/strong>, Renoir<\/em><\/strong>, The Currents<\/em><\/strong>, Forastera<\/em><\/strong> and more.<\/p>\n \n\tThe Ask E. Jean<\/em><\/strong> rollout follows multiple news reports this week that the Justice Department had launched an investigation of Carroll. Initial stories speculated the DOJ was going after Carroll for perjury related to LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman\u2019s funding of her legal fees but later reports said the alleged probe was looking solely into activity by Hoffman\u2019s nonprofit.<\/p>\n \n\tThe contribution to Carroll\u2019s defense by the billionaire Trump critic was revealed during Trump\u2019s the appeal. Carroll had said she received no outside funding. The court dismissed the discrepancy, ruling that Carroll wasn\u2019t involved in who was or was not funding her litigation. <\/p>\n \n\tThe U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Northern District of Illinois on Friday denied Carroll is the target of a probe. In a statement, Andrew Boutros, the top federal prosecutor in Chicago, said his office \u201ccan confirm that it has not opened \u2013 and has never opened \u2013 a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tHoffman wrote on X earlier today that the president \u201cis investigating me because I supported E Jean\u2019s lawsuit \u2013\u2013 where a jury found Trump liable for sexually assaulting her, and a court of appeals upheld the decision.\u201d <\/p>\n \n\tAbramorama is distributing Ask E. Jean,<\/em><\/strong> working with nonprofit Theorem Media which built a large partner network and assembled an Influential Women Collective that includes\u00a0Amber Tamblyn,\u00a0Aurora James,\u00a0Cecily Strong and\u00a0Ann Shoket. Theorem\u2019s organic social campaign reached half a million views in the lead-up to and through the doc\u2019s opening. Organizational partners on the campaign include the National Organization for Women, TCB, Feminist, Women of Color Unite\u00a0and\u00a0The List.<\/p>\n \n\tCarroll won two separate civil trials against Trump, in 2023 and 2024. She was awarded a $5 million judgement after a jury determined that the former and current president sexually abused her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. An $83.3 million award for defamation followed. Trump\u2019s appeals have so far been unsuccessful, although no money has been paid out yet.<\/p>\n \n\tThe doc follows her early days as Miss Cheerleader USA to her rise as a trailblazing journalist, author, and beloved advice columnist who broke barriers as the first female editor at Esquire, Playboy and Outside magazines. Her television talk show Ask E. Jean<\/em> aired on NBC\u2019s America\u2019s Talking network from 1994 to 1996. She said in the film she was inspired by the #MeToo movement to come forward with her claims against Trump but never considered suing him until \u201che called me a liar.\u201d Trump also said, \u201cShe\u2019s not my type\u201d to deny the allegations.<\/p>\n \n\tWritten by Ivy Meeropol, Leah Goudsmit and Ferne Pearlstein. Executive Producers include Graydon Carter, Ruth Ann Harnisch \u2013 The Harnisch Foundation, Geralyn White Dreyfous, MKR Sternlicht, Katrina vanden Heuvel, Sheila Nevins, Jenny Warburg, Alexia Blaze, Jenny Raskin, Mitch Solomon and Emily Lansbury.<\/p>\n \n