On Wednesday, May 8, Chatham women settled into Beckwith for a screening of Girl Rising sponsored by Intel and Her Campus. For months, the film was on the Facebook feeds and in the conversations of Chatham students who strongly identified with its international focus and it’s concentration on women’s issues. “The documentary is very empowering,” says sophomore Amy Chau. “I never realized that many girls worldwide do not have an education. Everyone deserves a good education. I wish I could help in some way.”
That’s the power of Girl Rising: it’s a movie you can’t shake off. There’s a seed that settles in, not only of understanding and emotion, but of motivation. When they left our screening, audience members took to Facebook and to email to say that they’d been inspired to act on the things they’d heard. “Before the film, I had my doubts,” says first year Rosemary Davies. “Will this film be like many others that capture an image, but with no voice? Can a film go beyond ethnographic limitations to tell a true story, one which is a collage of many connected lives? The answer is that it is possible. The film Girl Rising has beautiful shots and cuts, but moreover it is a beautiful ideal. The film is uncanny, but from the voices of so many that have been silenced – it is unsettling. So much emotion! Pathos! I felt that I could no longer turn away from the issue. Girls aren’t the problem, but are the solution. Being female has had its limitations in the past, but now the future has come. We are hope. I am reminded that even after Pandora’s box lets loose the vices onto the world, there is still hope left.”
We are grateful to Intel and Her Campus for making the screening possible. It was truly powerful, and it will surely inspire our activism for years to come.
Photo courtesy of 10×10