Independent Lens .

0

The Undocumented

Meet the Arizonans who try to identify the bodies of illegal crossers lost in the desert Monday, April 29 at 9pm.

The blistering deserts of southern Arizona have been littered with the scorched and desiccated bodies of more than 2,000 illegal border crossers in the past decade and a half. The grisly task of locating and identifying them falls to overwhelmed local coroners and tireless volunteers, who attempt to provide closure to devastated families.

Independent Lens: The Undocumented, Monday, April 29, 2013 at 9pm

Watch Coming to Independent Lens: The Undocumented on PBS. See more from Independent Lens.

Tags:
0

Maldives Sinking Into Indian Ocean

See how President Mohamed Nasheed is trying to prevent the drowning of 385,000 Maldivians on Independent Lens' The Island President, Monday, April 22, 2013 at 9pm.

Watch a documentary that lifts the issue of global warming out of the theoretical and into the personal. President Mohamed Nasheed is trying to prevent 385,000 people from drowning. His nation of 1,200 low-lying islands, the Maldives, is sinking into the Indian Ocean as sea levels rise due to global warming.

Independent Lens: The Island President, Monday April 22, 2013 at 9pm.

Watch Coming to Independent Lens: The Island President on PBS. See more from Independent Lens.

Tags: ,
0

Soul Food Junkies

Monday, January 14, 2013 at 9, learn more about this culinary tradition and its relevance to black cultural identity.

Soul food is a quintessential American cuisine, with a rich history and an abiding significance for black cultural identity. But with its celebration of all things fried and smothered, it has also had lasting effects on the health of African Americans. Join filmmaker Byron Hurt for a look at soul food: from its roots in Western Africa to its incarnation in the American South to its contribution to modern health crises in communities of color. “Soul Food Junkies” also looks at the socioeconomics of the American diet, and how the food industry profits from making calories cheap, but healthy options expensive and hard to find.

Monday, January 14, 2013 at 9pm.

Watch Is Soul Food a Sacrament or a Sin? on PBS. See more from Independent Lens.

Tags: ,
0

New Season of Community Cinema Kicks Off with Half the Sky

KCPT’s Community Cinema kicked off its 2012-2013 Season on Saturday, September 8, 2012 at 11am with Half the Sky.

KCPT’s Community Cinema kicked off its 2012-2013 Season on Saturday, September 8, 2012 at 11am with Half the Sky. Nearly 100 people came to the Tivoli Cinemas to see segments from the upcoming documentary series and connect with local organizations.

Half the Sky profiles women across the globe that are combating oppression and issues like gender-based violence, sex-trafficking, maternal mortality and forced prostitution with education, healthcare and economic empowerment. At the screening attendees viewed segments dealing with sex-trafficking in Cambodia and gender-based violence in Sierra Leone. Afterwards community partners from The Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault (MOCSA), Veronica’s Voice, Hope House, AAUW-KC and the UMKC Women’s Center shared insights about the kinds of violence and discrimination women in our community face.

Five women standing at the front of a theater presenting to audience.

From left to right representatives from the UMKC Women’s Center, AAUW-KC, Hope House, Veronica’s Voice and MOCSA share their insights on violence and sexual assault against women.

For example, Hope House is Missouri’s largest domestic violence shelter and has 128 spaces for victims of domestic violence. However, they are always full and turn away more women than they can serve each year.

The founder of Veronica’s Voice, shared how she herself had been sex-trafficked from a young age and how her organization works to stop sexual exploitation.

Woman holding paper address theater full of attendees

KCPT’s Community Cinema organizer Lindsey Foat introduces the panelists and discussion for Half the Sky.

Attendees shared the following questions and comments during the discussion:

  • A female teenager asked the panel if they thought mass media has made gender inequality worse and increased domestic violence. All panelists agreed that it has and that the objectification of women in the media has gotten worse.
  • “As an African American woman, it concerns me that in communities of color there is a degree of normalcy to rape. How do we get women of color to go outside of their community to report rape?”
  •  ”The film infuriated me! Where are all the men?”
  • It’s easier for us to look at what is going on in Africa and Asia and make a judgement about those cultures, than to look at our own culture and see the hyper-sexualization and objectification.
  • To make a difference, it is really important to educate men, women the media and put more women in positions of authority.
  • A teacher at a local Catholic High School started using the Half the Sky book as part of her curriculum for her debate students last year. Those students have since started a social justice club. She felt that the celebrity personalities detracted in some ways from the segments and was shocked by the fact that it was two men (one of which was Kristof) who sort of concerned the young woman in Sierra Leone, after she decided not to pursue prosecution against the man who raped her.
Tags: , ,
Page 1 of 612345...Last »