Award-winning feminist filmmaker to screen documentary at Connecticut College March 2
NEW LONDON, Conn. - Award-winning feminist filmmaker Aishah Shahidah Simmons with present her film "NO! The Rape Documentary," March 2 at 7 p.m. at the F.W. Olin Science Center, room 014 at Connecticut College. A question and answer session will follow.
Simmons will host discussions about the film March 3, at a noon lunch at the Connecticut College Women's Center and at a 4:30 p.m. tea at the LGBTQ Center. All events are free and open to the public.
Simmons' feature-length documentary explores the international reality of rape and other forms of sexual assault through first-person testimonies and the scholarship, spirituality, activism and cultural work of African-Americans. It has been used as an educational organizing tool to end violence against women and children. The film also explores the intersections of rape, race and homophobia.
Since its official release in 2006, NO! has been screened and distributed to racially and ethnically diverse audiences at film festivals, community centers, schools, correctional facilities, rape crisis centers, battered women's shelters and conferences throughout the world.
A self-proclaimed feminist lesbian filmmaker, writer and lecturer, Simmons - an incest and rape survivor - spent 11 years creating NO! She was recently awarded an Artist-in-Residence at the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture at the University of Chicago.
About Connecticut College
Situated on the coast of southern New England, Connecticut College is a highly selective private liberal arts college with 1900 students from all across the country and throughout the world. On the college's 750-acre arboretum campus overlooking Long Island Sound, students and faculty create a vibrant social, cultural and intellectual community enriched by diverse perspectives. The college, founded in 1911, is known for its unique combination of interdisciplinary studies, international programs, funded internships, student-faculty research and service learning.
For more information, visit www.conncoll.edu.
-- CC --
February 24, 2009
