Violinist Lara St. John has announced the upcoming release of her full-length documentary, entitled "Dear Lara," which explores her personal experience in addition to those of other victims of sexual abuse at music schools and orchestras around the world.

It was announced that the documentary will receive its World Premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2026, which is set to take place between February 4 and 14. Dear Lara will be shown on Friday, February 6, at 5:20 PM. There are additional screenings on February 8 and February 9, and more details are available here.

For the documentary, Lara interviewed several of those brave enough to speak out, with many agreeing to be identified after initially wanting to remain anonymous. The project was partially funded by a foundation and individual support but received its primary funding from St. John herself, following the sale of her own Manhattan apartment. Dear Lara was directed by St. John herself, produced by Patrick Hamm, and edited by Christie Herring.

The documentary's creation was a result of Lara's own experience at the Curtis Institute of Music in 1985, when her then 78–year–old violin teacher, Jascha Brodsky, raped her at age 14. In July of 2019, Lara told the Philadelphia Inquirer of this experience, which resulted in a public and personal acknowledgment and apology issued by Curtis.

Since then, Lara has become an advocate for many in the industry, and she has been contacted by hundreds of women, and a few men, sharing their experiences with abuse, assault, and harassment in the classical music industry.

"The survivors in my film are only a fragment of the legion of stories out there about rampant, unchecked abuse in classical music," Lara today told The Violin Channel. "This has to be known, and it has to be stopped."

"Viewers will be outraged, and certainly non-musicians will be shocked," she added. "For me, the most appalling was the discovery of the enormous amount of institutional complicity with the predators. Almost every music institution puts its own reputation above the safety of women and children."