WEDU's Community Cinema Brings a Special Presentation of A Path Appears to Sarasota and Tampa Venues

Jan. 16, 2015 - PRLog -- Community Cinema, presented locally by WEDU PBS and the Independent Television Service (ITVS), Independent Lens, is excited to offer an advance screening ofA Path Appears, from the creative team behind the groundbreaking series Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. The series follows author/reporters Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn and celebrity activists Malin Akerman, Mia Farrow, Ronan Farrow, Jennifer Garner, Regina Hall, Ashley Judd, Blake Lively, Eva Longoria, and Alfre Woodard to locations throughout the United States, Colombia, Haiti, and Kenya, as they explore the roots of gender inequality, the devastating impact of poverty, and the ripple effects that follow — including sex trafficking, teen pregnancy, gender-based violence, and child slavery. In their travels, they meet with inspiring activists who are creating effective solutions to gender-based oppression, transforming lives, and providing a roadmap for sustainable future change. Based on the book by Kristof and WuDunn, A Path Appears: Transforming Lives, Creating Opportunity, the three-part series, a pillar program of the Women and Girls Lead (http://womenandgirlslead.org/) initiative, premieres as a special presentation of Independent Lens (http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/) on three consecutive Monday nights, January 26, February 2, and February 9, 2015 at 10/9c WEDU PBS, West Central Florida’s primary PBS station.

“These are stories of a new generation of leaders that offer new inspiration to bring about change,” says WuDunn. “We want people to understand that there are solutions. There are successes.”

The Community Cinema screening will preview the following episode(s) from A Path Appears:

Episode 1: “Sex Trafficking in the USA”

The Department of Justice estimates that there are 300,000 children at risk of being trafficked into sexual slavery in the U.S. and Florida ranks third in incidents of Human Trafficking. The first episode of A Path Appears introduces individual survivors behind these shocking numbers, and illuminates the widespread existence of crimes happening in our own backyards. In this episode, Ashley Judd and Nicholas Kristof are guided through the streets of Nashville by a woman who was first sold to a pimp by her mother at the age of 12, and then visit an example of a solution that works; in Boston, Kristof is joined by Blake Lively to learn about an anti-trafficking organization, and they assist a mother who fears her missing daughter has fallen prey to a trafficker; then in Chicago, Kristof joins Malin Akerman to go behind the scenes of sting operations cracking down on the buyers of sex.

WHAT: FREE preview screening of A Path Appears, followed by a community discussion about Human Trafficking in the U.S. with Connie Rose and Natasha Nascimento

WHO:  Presenters: ITVS Community Cinema, WEDU PBS

WHEN: Thursday, January 22, 2015 at Mildred Sainer Pavilion at New College, Sarasota. Film begins at 6:30pm and Saturday, January 24, 2015 at Tampa Theatre. Film begins at 10:00am

RSVP: www.wedu.org/cinema

For more information, visit: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/path-appears. This event is supported by a grant from ITVS, Independent Television Service.