Six weeks before winning the 1998 Miss World crown , 18-year-old Linor Abargil was raped at knife-point by a travel agent escorting her home to Israel from a modeling gig in Italy . Her mother encouraged her to report the attack and go on to compete in the pageant on behalf of Israel . Just as her mother supported her , Abargil is now trying to empower other victims of sexual assault to speak up . Abargil 's journey from beauty queen to activist is chronicled in the Emmy-nominated documentary , `` Brave Miss World . '' `` It was her mom 's reaction telling her , 'Do n't worry , it was n't your fault , go to police , do n't take a shower , ' that changed her life . It gave her the courage to report the crime , '' said Cecilia Peck , who produced the film with Inbal Lessner , Motty Reif and Lati Grobman . After her rapist was convicted in 1999 , Abargil stopped speaking publicly about the attack and retreated from the public eye . In 2008 , she re-emerged , encouraging victims of sexual violence to share their stories -- and invited the filmmakers to follow her journey . `` Brave Miss World '' follows Abargil from South Africa to Europe , where she speaks with rape survivors , to rallies on American college campuses and the halls of Israeli Parliament , all the way to the scene of her attack in Italy . Along the way she works through family relationships , embraces Orthodox Judaism and deals with her own trauma . `` The film is really about the courage it takes to fight for justice and speak up for rape and assault . It 's about the making of an activist , '' Peck said . Killer 's rants inspire # YesAllWomen conversation . Nominated for a 2014 Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking , the film goes beyond the screen to empower victims of sexual violence to speak up through its website , in community screenings and on social media . CNN spoke with Peck and Lessner in May about what it took to complete the film and how it continues to have an impact . The following transcript has been edited for length and clarity : . CNN : Why did you decide to release this movie now ? Cecilia Peck : It 's hard to craft a narrative out of a taboo subject . We 've been working on the film for five years . It just happened to ( debut ) at a time that coincides with what feels like national attention being turned to this issue . Our timing came from Linor being ready to speak out about the rape after a long period of healing . It took her 11 years after her assault -- and winning the crown , and spending years in court , and retreating -- to heal . Inbal Lessner : It was important for Linor to inject real meaning to the crown . She felt the title was meaningless unless she did something with it . She knew it gave her a platform that people would listen to , it would amplify the message . She had already made a difference in her country after speaking publicly in the rape trial . She told women in Israel , `` If I could do it , you can do it , too . Report , do n't stay silent , '' and the number of reports of rape to police and crisis centers rose dramatically and [ authorities ] attributed it to her , along with new legislation inspired by case . She was hoping to reach a broader audience on a global scale by doing outreach and activism , and a documentary would help her reach that audience . CNN : Why do you think she was ready ? Peck : Ever since her rape , women been have been writing to her from all over saying you gave me courage to tell somebody . With a film she hoped to reach more people than she could in person . With the website she wanted to give survivors a place to connect . By filming her story the message could go much broader . Lessner : She felt ready to take this on with the 10-year anniversary of ( winning ) the crown . Everything came together in 2008 . She felt very strong and ready to take this on , and neither of us had any idea that it would turn out the way it did , that it would be so difficult , that it would be re-traumatizing . CNN : Tell me more about those difficulties . How did she experience trauma all over again ? Peck : It started when she found out ( her rapist ) was getting furloughs from prison . She shut down filming . She realized she was n't as strong as she thought , that it was n't completely behind her , and it can trigger symptoms of PTSD . She began fighting to keep him in prison for the duration of his sentence , not to release him early . As well as telling her stories over and over again , and hearing stories all over the world about how pervasive ( rape ) is , that things have n't come so far , it 's still difficult to access justice , all those things made the journey much harder than we thought . And , we did have to stop at a point for six months , and we did n't know if the film would get finished . CNN : How does the film relate to the current cultural discussion of `` rape culture '' and efforts to reform school policies around reporting sexual misconduct ? Peck : The central part of story is about college campuses and talking about how life is adversely affected by rape and sexual assault . With her story , the website and the work ( of student activists ) , it feels like we 're all working toward the same goal to make things safer on college campuses . CNN : What do people share ? Is there a common theme ? Peck : We hear more about the need for better and extensive training for administrations to respond to rape . We keep hearing there is n't adequate training , and ( survivors ) do n't always have access to Title IX coordinators ; there 's nowhere to go where they feel safe about reporting or talking about assault and rape . Student activists really are making a difference . I think they 're putting pressure on schools to make schools safer . CNN : How do you measure the film 's success ? Lessner : On our microscopic level we 're trying to quantify outreach and success by how many people are speaking up at our screenings or on the website . We 've seen an increase in the number of stories and people sharing on our page or engaging in discussion on Twitter using # IAmBrave . Peck : We felt a real responsibility to make a film that would resonate with audiences around the world and amplify Linor 's message of how important it is to not be ashamed and not to stay silent . When you 're responsible for a message like that it 's deeply engaging ; it 's a crusade . It 's hard to raise money and stay with it for so long . But you feel in the end that you have done something that could make a difference in this world .
`` Brave Miss World '' received an Emmy nomination . The documentary follows 1998 Miss World Linor Abargil 's journey from survivor to activist . Comment: `` It was important for Linor to inject real meaning to the crown , '' producer says .