After 18 months, "Hounddog" howls in movie theaters

"One of the things that was so upsetting was, 'what message does that send to victims of abuse?," Kampmeier said. "If Dakota is being so shamed, what message does that send to our daughters, our sisters?"

Eighteen months on, there is no longer a controversy. Fanning is 14 years-old and out promoting her upcoming movie, "The Secret Life of Bees," and Kampmeier, at last, is seeing "Hounddog" in theatres.

She calls this new version "more nuanced and layered (with) space for the performances and actors to live."

"I've had women come up to me in tears, mothers standing up in the audience who said they wanted to bring their 13 year-old daughters to see it because it was important."

(Editing by Jill Serjeant)