A collection of campus organizations, including the Women’s and Gender Equity Center, Beach Hillel, the Department of Film and Electronic Arts and Associated Students, Inc., will be recognizing sexual assault awareness month with a specialized film screening tonight.
From 6-8 p.m, Emmy award-nominated “Brave Miss World” will be shown at the University Theater to encourage people to stand against violence. Though the film has been screened at Cal State Long Beach in the past, film director and producer, Cecilia Peck, will be at this screening for a Q&A when the film concludes.
Cecilia Peck, a graduate of Princeton University, has won four different awards and been nominated for five additional awards for her work as a director, producer and actress. Her documentary about country music singers, The Dixie Chicks, called “Shut Up & Sing” won Audience Favorite Documentary for the Aspen Filmfest in 2006.
Peck’s “Brave Miss World” documentary follows Israeli beauty queen, Linor Abargil, who was abducted and raped just before winning the title of Miss World in 1998. The press found out about her incident soon after she was crowned, and the news was spread all over the world in a matter of days. Abargil begins to search for people who were sexually assaulted by the same man who violated her and she speaks out about her experience giving global awareness against sexual violence.
Pam Rayburn, coordinator for the Women’s and Gender Equity Center at CSULB, says, “April is sexual assault awareness month and it is also the month for Israel’s peace week, so this was the perfect film to screen. The documentary follows her story from victim to survivor and she eventually became an attorney and advocate against sexual assault.”
She went on to explain that this screening was organized in close contact with the school itself.
“Last time we did not have the director, and this time our center was fortunate enough to be working with the film and electronic arts department,” Rayburn said. “Helen Scheer [assistant professor of the department of film and electronic arts] brings great films to campus and the screening of this documentary had a great turn out the first time, so I expect it to be better this time around with Cecilia’s appearance.”
The doors open at 5:30 p.m. for the screening and Peck’s Q&A will follow immediately after the 98 minute documentary.