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She Rises Up – Documentary on Women Entrepreneurs
August 23 @ 6:45 am – 8:30 am
The Film Center will host the Columbus Premiere of She Rises Up (2024), the new documentary from Maureen and Jim Tusty. The feature presentation begins at 6:45pm, and will be followed by a post-screening discussion with the filmmakers.
About the film:
She Rises Up (2024) chronicles the remarkable journeys of three women who are helping to lift their communities out of poverty through the local businesses they fight the odds to maintain. Gladys Yupanqui of Peru founded a mini-market and is looking to expand. Magatte Wade of Senegal is building a cosmetics manufacturing company. Selyna Peiris of Sri Lanka is expanding the textile company founded by her mother.
Nearly one-third of all countries have laws that stifle a woman’s access to work. They limit access to bank accounts, property inheritance, and many types of jobs. These countries have some of the highest poverty rates in the world.
Gladys, Magatte and Selyna’s stories are each unique unto themselves. Yet a common theme illustrates the critical importance of local businesses to emerging economies. These women prevail over issues that are not faced by the multinational corporations that come in. Opening a business in many countries is easier for a large foreign corporation than for local entrepreneurs. McKinsey & Company has calculated that if women were to participate in the world economy to the same extent as men, they would add the equivalent of the combined economies of China and the U.S. to the world’s prosperity.
About the filmmakers:
Maureen Castle Tusty and James Tusty founded Sky Films Inc. in 2008 in order to produce documentary films that inform, uplift and inspire. Their first feature film, The Singing Revolution (2006), was released theatrically in over 100 North American markets. Named a New York Times Critic’s Choice, the film told the little-known story of how the country of Estonia played a critical role in the collapse of the Soviet Union by using singing as a weapon of resistance. Subsequent documentaries such as India Awakes, To Breathe As One, Sweden: Lessons for America?, Trailblazers: The New Zealand Story, and Corporate Welfare: Where’s the Outrage? have all aired nationally on U.S. Public Television.
For many years prior, the Tustys specialized in international productions for some of the largest corporations in the world such as Coca-Cola, IBM, and GE. Recognized with scores of awards, that work took them to over 60 countries around the world. It is that experience that allows them to produce compelling films that take place in many remote corners of the world; sharing stories and voices that might not otherwise be heard.
