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Go behind the scenes to see interviews and footage that help explore the message of the film with the filmmakers, the authors, the celebrities, a...
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Women and girls across the globe face threats — trafficking, prostitution, violence, discrimination — every day of their lives. But hope endures....
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It was a journey that started a movement that's now changing the lives of women and girls around the world. Discover how you can get involved.
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Half the Sky
Half the Sky
Coming as a special presentation of Independent Lens October 1 and 2, 2012
A landmark transmedia project featuring a four-hour PBS primetime national and international broadcast event, a Facebook-hosted social action game, mobile games, two websites, educational video modules with companion text, a social media campaign supporting over 30 partner NGOs, and an impact assessment plan all inspired by Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, the widely acclaimed book by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.
Half the Sky filmed in 10 countries, following Kristof, WuDunn, and celebrity activists America Ferrera, Diane Lane, Eva Mendes, Meg Ryan, Gabrielle Union and Olivia Wilde on a journey to tell the stories of inspiring, courageous individuals. Across the globe oppression is being confronted, and real meaningful solutions are being fashioned through health care, education, and economic empowerment for women and girls. The linked problems of sex trafficking and forced prostitution, gender-based violence, and maternal mortality — which needlessly claim one woman every 90 seconds — present to us the single most vital opportunity of our time: the opportunity to make a change. All over the world women are seizing this opportunity.
Maternal Mortality
Gender discrimination linked to maternal mortality
Oppressive attitudes towards women are reflected in high maternal mortality rates in the developing world; medical experts say most pregnancy-related deaths are preventable but treatment for impoverished women is extremely limited.
Read more >>Diane Lane
Diane experiences risks to mothers in Somililand
The Academy Award nominated star of Unfaithful and supporter of Heifer International and Oceana, traveled to Somaliland with Nicholas Kristof to visit Edna Adan at the Edna Adan Maternity Hospital.
Read more >>The Authors
Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
New York Times reporters and Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn guide readers on an odyssey through Africa and Asia to meet the extraordinary women struggling there.
Read more >>The Filmmakers
Read the bios of the team behind the program
A team of veteran filmmakers collaborated to create to bring the stories and ideas of Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's best-selling book to public television audiences nationwide.
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