For Immediate Release
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Contacts: Vickie Devenport, WSIU Outreach Coordinator, (618) 453-6148, vickie.devenport@wsiu.org
Local Film Screening to Confront Gender Inequality Worldwide
Community Cinema 2012-13 Film Series Begins This Saturday
Carbondale, Ill.-- WSIU Public Broadcasting, the public media arm of Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC), and the Carbondale Public Library will kick off a second season of Community Cinema this Saturday, September 29 at 2:30pm with a free screening and discussion of the filmHalf the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.
Jenn Freitag, Prevention Educator for Rape Crisis Services at the Women's Center in Carbondale, and Shannon Lindsay Toth, a doctoral student in Women's Studies at SIU Carbondale, will lead a discussion after the film. Refreshments will be provided.
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide uses current investigations and emotionally explosive storytelling to confront the greatest moral challenge of our time: the oppression of women and girls around the world through trafficking, prostitution, violence, and discrimination. Filmed in 10 countries and inspired by the best-selling book by Pulitzer Prize-winning authors Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, the series is driven by the growing awareness that empowering women is the best way to increase prosperity and stability around the globe.
Six talented actress-advocates -- Eva Mendes, Meg Ryan, Gabrielle Union, Diane Lane, America Ferrera, and Olivia Wilde -- join Kristof as he travels to Asia and Africa to meet face-to-face with inspiring women and men working to bring about change and the women and girls who confront extreme gender inequality in their daily lives.
Says WuDunn, “In the same way that slavery was a moral challenge for the 19th century and totalitarianism was a challenge for the 20th century, the challenge that women and girls face around the world is the moral challenge of our time.” Additional details about the film are available at pbs.org/independentlens/half-the-sky
The remaining schedule is as follows: As Goes Janesville (October 27), Solar Mamas (November 24), Soul Food Junkies (January 26), The Powerbroker (February 23), Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines (March 30),The Island President (April 27), The Revolutionary Optimists (May 25), and Love Free or Die (June 29).
Community Cinemais national civic engagement Initiative featuring free film screenings of films distributed by the Independent Television Service (ITVS), followed by discussion of the themes explored in each film. Film screenings will be at the Carbondale Public Library on the last Saturday of every month at 2:30pm. Screenings will be held monthly through June 2013, with the exception of December. The project is designed to bring communities together to discuss key social issues of our time.
For more information about WSIU's Community Cinema screenings, contact Vickie Devenport at (618) 453-6148 or vickie.devenport@wsiu.org. WSIU will launch a website for the local screenings soon at wsiu.org/communitycinema.
TheCommunity Cinema initiative is a service of Independent Television Services (ITVS) and is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
About WSIU Public Broadcasting
WSIU Public Broadcasting is licensed to the Board of Trustees of Southern Illinois University and is an integral part of the College of Mass Communication & Media Arts on the Carbondale campus. The WSIU stations reach more than three million people across five states and beyond through three digital public television channels, three public radio stations, a radio information service, a website, and an education and community outreach department.
WSIU's mission is to improve the quality of life of the people they serve. The WSIU stations partner with other community organizations to promote positive change and to support the academic and public service missions of Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Learn more and get the latest station news online at wsiu.org and on WSIU's Facebook and Twitter pages.
WSIU's programs and services are partially funded by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.
# # #
