Over the past month, Her Campus Bryant and the Alliance for Women’s Awareness have held two screenings of the newly released movie: Girl Rising. The film featured the stories of 9 young women who have overcome struggle and actively participated in helping raise women’s rights. The film was a heart wrenching movie that not only raised awareness to problems facing women around the world, but was also absolutely inspiring. The film left viewers, including myself, in awe and ready to take part in the quest to educate women all around the world.
Our first viewing was held by Her Campus Bryant and consisted of approximately 15 viewers, all Bryant female students. We discussed ideas before and after the film and came out with one thing in common, a feeling of inspiration. Some quotes from these Bryant females include:
“Seeing young women from less-developed countries doing anything they can to overcome the hardships they are faced with to prove they can be successful was truly inspiring to me”
“Girl Rising was very inspiring and makes you really appreciate what you have”
“Girl Rising made me put my life into perspective and inspired me to join a movement to help those less fortunate”
Our second viewing was held in sponsorship with Bryant’s Alliance for Women’s Awareness. Over 25 female faculty and staff members of Bryant University attended including: faculty women, librarians, health service providers, counseling center therapists, staff from the Intercultural Center, the Director of the Women’s Summit, and the spouse of the Chairman of Bryant’s Board of Trustees. Following the film, the women discussed the effects the screening had. Many felt that the powerful messages that came with each vignette were amazing and actually inspired them to incorporate the film into Bryant’s community and life over the next year. Faculty members hope to assign the film to their courses in the fall and the Women’s Center hopes to include it in their Fall Film Festival.
All in all, the screenings were a huge success. In both viewings, many attendees were aware of the kind of problems in the countries profiled but still felt they got a lot out of the film and feel that it is worth our effort to expose others in the community to the themes presented in this phenomenal film. Her Campus Bryant would like to thank 10×10, Intel, the Alliance for Women’s Awareness and the Bryant librarian staff for all of the hard work and passion to make these viewings possible.