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UIS events mark Domestic Violence Awareness Month

October 12, 2005

SPRINGFIELD – The University of Illinois at Springfield will host a screening of the film Once Were Warriors, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, October 19, in Brookens Auditorium, lower level of Brookens Library on the UIS campus. Sponsored by the UIS Women’s Center and Women’s Issues Caucus with support from the Inter Club Council Board, both the film and a preceding Pay Equity Bake Sale beginning at 6 p.m. in Brookens Concourse are presented in observance of national Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Once Were Warriors is a New Zealand film about Beth, a mother of five who is still deeply in love with her volatile husband after 18 years of marriage. Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert wrote, “This is not a narrow drama that focuses on a few themes; it paints a whole style of life, the good times with the bad.”  Critic James Berardinelli noted, “This is not merely another ‘domestic violence motion picture.’ With its complex cultural backdrop and its stark view of this societal cancer, the film attains a level where it is equally painful and potent.” Once Were Warriors won awards at film festivals in Venice, Montreal, Rotterdam, and Hawaii.  It is presented free and open to the public.

Prices of items at the Pay Equity Bake Sale will reflect the U.S. statistical rates of pay by gender and race.  All proceeds will benefit the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence, an organization that lost one-fourth of its shelters in Hurricane Katrina.

For more information, contact UIS Women’s Center Director Lynn Otterson at 206-7173.