Film Screening & Panel Discussion: Girl Rising

A "SALAAM, SHALOM: SPEAKING OF PEACE" PROGRAM - Girl Rising
A new feature film about the power of education to change a girl... and the world.

GIRL RISING IS A FILM. GIRL RISING IS A MOVEMENT. GIRL RISING IS THE FUTURE.

From Academy Award-nominated director Richard E. Robbins, Girl Rising journeys around the globe to witness the strength of the human spirit and the power of education to change the world. Viewers get to know nine unforgettable girls living in the developing world: ordinary girls who confront tremendous challenges and overcome nearly impossible odds to pursue their dreams. Prize-winning authors put the girls' remarkable stories into words, and renowned actors, including Meryl Streep, Liam Neeson and Anne Hathaway among others, give them voice.

The film spotlights unforgettable girls like Sokha, an orphan who rises from the dumps of Cambodia to become a star student and an accomplished dancer; Suma, who composes music to help her endure forced servitude in Nepal and today crusades to free others; and Ruksana, an Indian "pavement-dweller" whose father sacrifices his own basic needs for his daughter's dreams. Each girl is paired with a renowned writer from her native country. Edwidge Danticat, Sooni Taraporevala, Aminatta Forna and others tell the girls' stories, each in its style, and all with profound resonance.

After the film, we will host a discussion panel with Ruth Messinger, President of the American Jewish World Service, Nahid Angha, Ph.D., a Sufi scholar, human rights activist, women's rights activist, lecturer, translator and author and co-author of over fifteen books including A Force Such as the World Has Never Known: Women Creating Change, and Manisha Gupte co-founder of MASUM, an Indian women's organization working to promote the rights of women and girls (with support from AJWS).

FREE