DVD
REVIEW: HALF THE SKY
11/20/12
Across the globe oppression is being confronted, and real meaningful solutions are being fashioned through health care, education, and economic empowerment for women and girls. The linked problems of sex trafficking and forced prostitution, gender-based violence, and maternal mortality — which needlessly claim one woman every 90 seconds — present to us the single most vital opportunity of our time: to make a change. All over the world women are seizing this
opportunity.
Filmed in 10 countries, HALF THE SKY: TURNING OPPRESSION INTO OPPORTUNITY FOR WOMEN WORLDWIDE, based on the widely acclaimed book by The New York Times reporters and Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, follows Kristof and celebrity advocates America Ferrera, Diane Lane, Eva Mendes, Meg Ryan, Gabrielle Union and Olivia Wilde on journeys to Africa, India and Southeast Asia to tell the stories of inspiring, courageous
individuals.
Docurama Films, a label of Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp. (NASDAQ: CIDM)’s Entertainment Group, will release HALF THE SKY: TURNING OPPRESSION INTO OPPORTUNITY FOR WOMEN WORLDWIDE on DVD on November 13. An early digital release of October 3 is timed to the national and international broadcast premiere of the 4-hour series on PBS’s Independent Lens, introduced by George Clooney, on October 1 and 2..
A landmark transmedia project supported by ITVS’s Women & Girls Lead public media campaign, HALF THE SKY: TURNING OPPRESSION INTO OPPORTUNITY FOR WOMEN WORLDWIDE features the primetime broadcast event, DVD release, a social media campaign supporting over 30 partner NGOs, a Facebook-hosted social action game and mobile games created by Games for Change, educational curriculum, and two websites – all inspired by the 2009 bestseller, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women
Worldwide.
“Half the Sky tackles atrocities and indignities from sex trafficking to maternal mortality, from obstetric fistulas to acid attacks, and absorbing the fusillade of horrors can feel like an assault of its own. But the poignant portraits of survivors humanize the issues, divulging facts that moral outrage might otherwise eclipse.” – The New York Times Book Review.
EPISODE SEGMENTS.
Gender-Based Violence/Sierra Leone:
Eva Mendes and Nicholas Kristof investigate gender-based violence in Sierra Leone, a country where most of the assaults and rapes go unreported. They meet with Amie Kandeh, who works with the International Rescue Committee and runs three of West Africa’s sexual assault referral centers..
Sex Trafficking/Cambodia:
In Cambodia, where 30 percent of prostitutes are children, Half the Sky examines the issue of sex trafficking. Meg Ryan and Kristof meet Somaly Mam, herself sold into slavery as a young girl, but who is now a world-renowned leader in the anti-trafficking struggle. Mam runs a center to rehabilitate and educate girls rescued from brothels..
Education/Vietnam:
Gabrielle Union and Kristof visit Vietnam with former Microsoft marketing executive John Wood, who started Room to Read, an organization which works to promote literacy and equal education for girls across the developing world. In Vietnam women have been traditionally devalued, and many girls are kept at home to tend to household chores while boys continue their education..
Maternal Mortality/ Somaliland:
“Half a million women a year die in childbirth,” says Nicholas Kristof. “It’s not biology that’s killing them but neglect.” Diane Lane and Kristof investigate maternal mortality in Somaliland, where 1 in 12 women die in childbirth due to poor nutrition and the effects of female genital mutilation (FGM)—also known as cutting — a brutal ritual that has been performed on more than 130 million women around the world. They meet with Edna Adan, founder of the Edna Adan Maternity Hospital, Somaliland’s first maternal health facility..
Forced Prostitution/India:
In India it is estimated that 90 percent of sex workers’ daughters follow their mothers into prostitution and, of the 3 million prostitutes in the country, 1.2 million are children. In Kolkata, America Ferrera and Kristof visit the Kalighat red-light district to meet Urmi Basu, who is working to break the tradition of forced prostitution passed down from mothers to
daughters.
Each of these stories puts a human face to an otherwise abstract idea or string of statistics that could never convey the true human cost of the discrimination and abuse suffered by hundreds of millions. These stories also illuminate the spirit of perseverance that is embodied by the women and girls who face these violations each day, and those who have made it their life’s mission to help them.
VIDEO:
Widescreen
AUDIO:
Dolby 2.0 and DTS Surround Sound
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Extended and deleted scenes and
interviews
PSAs;
Trailers
Mini-campaign
videos
Take
Action
Next
Steps
Bonus content from Games for Change.
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