CNU's Women's Film Festival Highlights
Renowned Political Activist Dr. Rajani Thiranagama
News Release - January 29, 2009
Media Contact:
Lori Jacobs
University Relations
lori.jacobs@cnu.edu
(757) 594-7961
(NEWPORT NEWS, VA) –A movie about love, revolution and betrayal in Sri Lanka, titled No More Tears Sister, will be featured at the first film screening of 2009 hosted by the CNU Women's Film Festival. This event is free and open to the public through the PBS documentary series POV. The film, with introduction by Professor Linda Waldron of the CNU Department of Sociology, will take place on Thursday, February 5 at 7 p.m. in CNU's Ferguson Center for the Arts Music & Theatre Hall.
No More Tears Sister is the first of three films during the spring semester presented by Women's Studies and the CNU Film program. For more information, please see the website at http://english.cnu.edu/wgfilm.html.
No More Tears Sister, a documentary by Helene Klodawsky, explores the price of truth in times of war. Set during the violent ethnic conflict that has enveloped Sri Lanka for decades, the film recreates the courageous and vibrant life of renowned human rights activist Dr. Rajani Thiranagama.
If love is the first inspiration of a social revolutionary, as has sometimes been said, no one better exemplified that idea than Dr. Rajani Thiranagama. Love for her people and her newly independent nation, and empathy for the oppressed of Sri Lanka - including women and the poor - led her to risk her middle-class life to join the struggle for equality and justice for all. Love led her to marry across ethnic and class lines. In the face of a brutal government crackdown on her Tamil people, love led her to help the guerrilla Tamil Tigers, the only force seemingly able to defend the people. When she realized the Tigers were more a murderous gang than a revolutionary force, she broke with them, publicly and dangerously.
After the film, Dr. Waldron will lead a discussion. Audience members are invited to participate. The Women's Film Festival is sponsored by CNU and the award-winning documentary series, POV (Point of View). For more information, please contact Professor Rosenberg at rrosenb@cnu.edu or at (757) 594-7149.
Christopher Newport University is a four-year public university in Newport News, Virginia. CNU enrolls 5,000 students in rigorous academic programs through the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Joseph W. Luter III College of Business and Leadership and offers great teaching, small classes and an emphasis on leadership, civic engagement and honor. Visit us at www.cnu.edu.