On February 12th, newportFILM was proud to screen the astounding documentary He Named Me Malala to 420 local Aquidneck Island students at the Jane Pickens Theater and Event Center.
The film focuses on the journey of Malala Youafzai, a Pakistani girl who was shot by Taliban forces for speaking out on girl’s right to education. Her devotion and bravery to her cause has awarded her honors throughout the world, including the aclaimed Nobel Peace Prize in 2014.
Coincidentally, tickets to see Malala speak in Providence on July 28th went on sale the same day that students from Thompson Middle School, Cluny School, Gaudet Middle School & East Bay MET School came to see her documentary with newportFILM Youth.
Zoe Butler, senior at Portsmouth Abbey, co-hosted the post-film Q&A with URI professor Kartin Jomaa. Butler learned about Malala’s inspiring story in 2012 and has remained passionate in sharing Malala’s story by creating a human rights club. Together they discusses important themes in the film and opened the discussion up to questions from the students.
“newportFILM Youth is a series of documentaries curated specifically for students (1st – 12th grades) and their families,” says Terri Conners, Executive Director of newportFILM, “The series, like the rest of newportFILM’s program, is fluid and ever-changing depending on the needs of the students, and/or the mission of the documentary itself. We have hosted after-school, “family picnic” documentary events in the Pell School gym, created a curriculum for a trimester-long documentary class for MET school students, and secured large theaters to host free field trips for multiple schools to attend documentaries together as one student community.”
Learn more about the film here: http://www.newportfilm.com/film-events/films/he-named-me-malala
Learn more about the Malala Fund’s education initatives: https://www.malala.org/about
