This progress update will be different. Instead of hearing my words, I would like you to directly hear the voices of the film director Alejandra Alcala and the protagonist Asmaa Rashed discuss how storytelling can contribute to women and girls education. This interview was recorded during the Girl Up Global Leadership Summit.
Stories can catalyze change, amplify long-silenced voices, and connect communities around the world, building love and empathy across borders. Taking us on a journey of self-growth with two heroic storytellers at the 2023 #GirlUp Global Leadership Summit, Girl Up leader Joanna discovers why the documentary, “The Neighborhood Storyteller,” has touched the hearts of so many and serves as a shining example of the capacity and strength within us all.
Featuring:
Alejandra Alcala, Co-Founder, HOME Storytellers & Director, The Neighborhood Storyteller
Asmaa Rashed, Social Work Leader, We Love Reading Ambassador, and Protagonist of The Neighborhood Storyteller
Joanna H., Girl Up Leader (Lebanon)
*Note: This session features a mix of Arabic and English, with English subtitles on the screen for those who need them to follow along!
I am sure this conversation will help you better understand how supporting our project will help amplify refugee girls education. Enjoy it!
We continue to reach audiences with Asmaa's message, the Syrian refugee and the protagonist of documentary film The Neighborhood Storyteller:
LET'S TOGETHER UNLEASH THE POTENTIAL OF WOMEN AND GIRLS IN VULNERABLE SITUATIONS TO ACT CREATIVELY FOR THEMSELVES AND THEIR COMMUNITIES.
With your support and the partnerships we are cultivating, the film and the message is spreading and is helping advance the Women and Girls Empowerment movement.
Here the latest update of the great reception the documentary is having in the worldwide film festival tour with 40 official selections in 20 countries. 21 nominations and 9 awards. Including Best Women in Film, Best Human Rights, Best Refugee Challenges, Excellence Award, Best Documentary Short, Highly Commended Feature Documentary and Best Picture Documentary.
Impact Events:
By supporting financially this project you can help us increase even more the reach of Asmaa´s message.
You can visit the film website for more information and if interested in organizing a community screening fill up the Host a Screening form here.
Thank you, we are grateful for your continued support.
In the last report we mentioned Asmaa's message, the Syrian refugee and the protagonist of documentary film The Neighborhood Storyteller:
LET'S TOGETHER UNLEASH THE POTENTIAL OF WOMEN AND GIRLS IN VULNERABLE SITUATIONS TO ACT CREATIVELY FOR THEMSELVES AND THEIR COMMUNITIES.
With your support and the partnerships we are cultivating, the film and the message is spreading and starting to help advance the Women and Girls Empowerment movement.
Let me start with an update of the great reception the documentary is having in the film festival tour with 33 official selections in 17 countries. 19 nominations and 6 awards. Including Best Women in Film, Best Human Rights, Best Refugee Challenges, Excellence Award, Best Documentary Short, Highly Commended Feature Documentary.
Planned Impact Events:
You can visit the film website for more information and if interested in organizing a community screening fill up the Host a Screening form here.
Thank you, we are grateful for your continued support.
The message from Asmaa Alrashed, a Syrian refugee and the protagonist of documentary film The Neighborhood Storyteller, is loud and clear.
LET'S TOGETHER UNLEASH THE POTENTIAL OF WOMEN AND GIRLS IN VULNERABLE SITUATIONS TO ACT CREATIVELY FOR THEMSELVES AND THEIR COMMUNITIES.
Asmaa was empowered 7 years ago when she became We Love Reading's ambassador. it was a turning point in her life when she believed in her own strength to improve her own life and the life of her family and community.
This project is aiming to reach at least 1 Million women and girls in vulnerable situation with Asmaa's message to build their confidence and motivation so they, like Asmaa, also join We Love Reading's program or any other empowerment program.
We are also very happy to let you know that The Neighborhood Storyteller is having an amazing film festival tour. It won the Women in Film Award by Telluride's Mountainfilm Festival, Best Human Rights film by Toronto International Women's Film Festival, Best Documentary Film by Amsterdam Short Film Festival, and the Execellence Award by DOCS without Borders. It is also official selection of festivals in the USA, Canada, Mexico, Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Morocco and UAE.
CALL TO ACTION: We need your support to ensure we can reach 1 Million women and girls in vulnerable situations through in-person or virtual screening events. Every donation will be used to help us achive this objective.
You can watch the film trailer here.
Thank you, we are grateful for your continued support.
Links:
Dear Supporters,
I am very happy to announce some changes in the scope of the project that will accelerate its social impact. The focus now is in amplifying refugee teenage girls education but I am sure it will have a broader impact helping all children and youth in vulnerable situations.
The second and really important news is that HOME Storytellers partnered with The Big Heart Foundation and We Love Reading to produce the feature-length documentary film The Neighborhood Storyteller. The story is about a young and education deprived Syrian woman who embarks on a new read aloud project to empower teenage girls to build a future of opportunities she never had. Despite her complex living situation as a refugee in the Zaatari camp and female within a conservative community, she is determined to raise a conscious generation of successful women.
The World Premiere was on May 27th, 2022 at the Telluride Mountainfilm festival and the film won THE WOMEN IN FILM AWARD.
We are very lucky to have already an award-winning and really inspiring film. The challenge now is to have the film watched by as many people as possible to create a movement and that requires a significant effort and resources. For that reason all donations in this project will be used to fund the outreach and impact campaign.
I invite you to watch the film trailer in this link and join us in the campaing with your financial support and letting others know about film. We will also soon announce how to organize your own film screening. We will give you more information on the next report.
Best regards,
Francisco Alcala
Links:
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