PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MISS REPRESENTATION AIMS TO END SEXISM IN THE MEDIA AND EMPOWER WOMEN
DOCUMENTARY FILM TO SCREEN ON JUNE 25, 2012, 6:30 PM
AT THE ELKS THEATRE, RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA
SPONSORED BY VOICES OF THE HEARTLAND FILM GROUP
Miss Representation first premiered in the documentary competition at the Sundance Film Festival, where it caught the eye of OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network. It made its television debut as part of the OWN documentary film club in October 2011, with over 1.3 million people tuning in to its multiple airings. Additional screenings with corporations, non-profits, religious groups, government organizations and communities are happening every day all over the world.
Local Screening: There will be a local screening of Miss Representation on June 25, 2012 at 6:30 pm at the Elks Theatre in Rapid City. Tickets are $5.00 and available through the Elks Theatre website or at the door. All proceeds from this screening will go to Project Respect, org. After the screening, there will be a community/panel discussion led by Holly Sortland, Director of Project Respect.org.
The media is invited to attend the screening and cover the post-screening panel discussion. If you would like to attend, please contact Clay Uptain, dcu777@rushmore.com or 341.0724.
Written and directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Miss Representation exposes how mainstream media contribute to the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence in America. The film challenges the media’s limited and often disparaging portrayals of women and girls, which make it difficult for women to achieve leadership positions and for the average woman to feel powerful herself.
Miss Representation includes stories from teenage girls and provocative interviews with politicians, journalists, entertainers, activists and academics like Condoleezza Rice, Lisa Ling, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Rachel Maddow, Rosario Dawson, Jackson Katz, Jean Kilbourne, and Gloria Steinem. The film offers startling facts and statistics that will leave audiences shaken and armed with a new perspective. www.missrepresentation.org
In a society where media is the most persuasive force shaping cultural norms, the collective message that our young women and men overwhelmingly receive is that a woman’s value and power lie in her youth, beauty, and sexuality – and not in her capacity as a leader. While women have made strides in leadership over the past few decades, the U.S. is 90th in the world in terms of women in national legislatures, women hold only 3% of clout positions in mainstream media, and 65% of women and girls have disordered eating.
The distribution of the film Miss Representation has been the catalyst for a social action campaign led by MissRepresentation.org. The campaign seeks to empower women and girls and provide them with new opportunities to realize their full potential.
MissRepresentation.org is igniting a cross-generational movement to shift the cultural mindset of communities, interrupt and stop patterns of sexism, change the way women and girls are represented in the media and ensure a tipping point that will lead to gender parity in leadership through the United States. Join the campaign at www.missrepresentation.org.
About Project Respect.org: Project Respect.org is a local non-profit organization sponsoring healthy, responsible and respectful relationships for South Dakota’s youth. www.projectrespect.org, 605.786.5256, P.O. Box 1895, Rapid City, SD 57709.
About Voices of the Heartland Film Group: We are a small local volunteer organization which brings monthly indie films and documentaries to Rapid City, South Dakota on the last Monday of each month at the Elks Theatre. http://heartlandfilm.wordpress.com/, 605.341.0724 or dcu@rushmore.com