GIRL RISING Film Screening

Wednesday, Jan. 15 at 7 p.m.
Hawkins-Conard Student Center Auditorium

The Ashland University College of Arts and Sciences' Symposium Against Indifference: Engaging Latin America and the Caribbean opens its spring events with a screening of the film "Girl Rising." Co-sponsored by the Ashland Center for Nonviolence, the screening of the film narrated by Meryl Streep is free and open to the public.

Girl Rising is both a feature film and a global action campaign for girls’ education that confirms that powerful storytelling can drive change. Around the world, millions of girls face barriers to education that boys do not. And yet, when you educate a girl, you can break cycles of poverty in just one generation. Removing barriers to girls’ education – such as early marriage, domestic slavery, sex trafficking, gender violence and discrimination, lack of access to healthcare, and school fees - means not only a better life for girls, but a safer, healthier, and more prosperous world for all. 

 

The feature film, by Academy Award-nominated director Richard E. Robbins, spotlights the remarkable stories of nine girls around the world striving beyond circumstance and overcoming nearly insurmountable odds to achieve their dreams. It uses the storytelling skills of acclaimed writers and voice performances by renowned actors to promote a powerful truth: educating girls can transform families, communities and entire countries.
 

The global action campaign embraces three goals that embody hope for every girl including share her story, invest in her and stand with her. The film shares the girl's story by raising awareness about the importance of girls’ education to global prosperity and peace. To date, the film has aired multiple times in over 200 countries, reaching millions of people. Girl Rising is grassroots-driven, generating nearly 800 crowd-sourced theatrical screenings and over 4 billion earned media impressions. A school curriculum brings Girl Rising into classrooms as well. 

Investments in girls are made by driving resources to organizations that help girls around the world get into, and stay in, school. Girl Rising has so far inspired over $2.1 million in donations, including nearly $500,000 to the Girl Rising Fund. Donations to the Fund are distributed among Girl Rising’s non-profit impact partners, who provide life-changing services to girls in the developing world every day.

Girl Rising stands with girls by identifying ways that world leaders can act to support and protect girls. From a rally at the World Bank to high-level screenings worldwide at UNESCO, the Irish Parliament, the Pentagon, the Peace Corps and an ever-growing list - Girl Rising consistently engages the attention of global influencers.