Carly MurphyAmidst the whirlwind of awards season coverage, Chapman University invites you to “Films for Peace and Justice,” a series of screenings at the Folino Theater in Dodge College (ranked the #4 film school) featuring Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Nadia Murad on Tuesday, March 12, at 7 p.m.
This event marks the culmination of a collaboration between undergraduate students and Murad, recently named one of Time Magazine’s 12 Women of the Year. Throughout the spring 2023 semester, 19 Chapman film and peace studies students, under the guidance of faculty from Dodge College and Wilkinson College, worked alongside Murad to create powerful documentaries addressing critical issues related to her advocacy for victims of genocide and sexual assault worldwide. “Films for Peace and Justice” showcases the best films made in cross disciplinary student groups and will be utilized to help train international workers for work in the field, raise issues with governments and international organizations, and bring attention to Murad’s work.
The short films, supported by professionals in documentary filmmaking, offer poignant insights into the struggles faced by survivors and underscore the urgent need for peace and justice. They are just one example of the course’s lasting impact, participants say. Over the semester, the students also learned:
- How to turn immersive research and extensive preparation into intensely meaningful storytelling.
- How the perspective of peace studies majors can enhance the work of documentarians, and vice versa.
- How following the Murad Code of ethical interviewing and conduct can illuminate experience without evoking previously documented trauma.
- How survivors of sexual violence have much more to offer the world than just retelling stories of the horrors they endured.
“It’s a chance to consider why we have tended to focus on the violence instead of on the work Nadia is doing to support her community and other women,” said Lisa Leitz, associate professor and Delp-Wilkinson Endowed Chair in Peace Studies. Leitz co-taught the course with Christine Fugate, assistant professor of film and an award-winning documentarian.
Join us as we explore peace studies through the lens of documentary filmmaking and honor the resilience of survivors like Nadia Murad.
###
About: Nadia Murad
Human rights activist and recipient of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize, Nadia Murad is a leading advocate for survivors of genocide and sexual violence. Her New York Times bestselling memoir, The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State, is a harrowing account of the genocide against the Yazidi ethno-religious minority in Iraq and Nadia’s imprisonment by the so-called Islamic State (ISIS).
About Chapman University
Founded in 1861, Chapman University is a nationally ranked private university in Orange, California, about 30 miles south of Los Angeles. Chapman serves nearly 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, with a 12:1 student-to-faculty ratio. Students can choose from 123 areas of study within 11 colleges for a personalized education. Chapman is categorized by the Carnegie Classification as an R2 “high research activity” institution. Students at Chapman learn directly from distinguished world-class faculty including Nobel Prize winners, MacArthur fellows, published authors and Academy Award winners. The campus has produced a Rhodes Scholar, been named a top producer of Fulbright Scholars and hosts a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honor society. Chapman also includes the Harry and Diane Rinker Health Science Campus in Irvine. The university features the No. 4 film school and No. 60 business school in the U.S. Learn more about Chapman University: www.chapman.edu
Media Contact
Carly Murphy, Public Relations Coordinator | carmurphy@chapman.edu | Desk: 714-289-3196 | Mobile: 714-497-9683
