Jennifer Siebel Newsom's MissRepresentation.org and ro*co films Announce CA Public Schools Campaign

Jennifer Siebel Newsom's MissRepresentation.org and ro*co films Announce CA Public Schools Campaign

Gifting 1000 Educational DVDs of doc film MISS REPRESENTATION to Interested Public Schools

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- One thousand copies of the documentary film MISS REPRESENTATION will be donated to interested public middle schools and high schools across California beginning this Fall, thanks to a campaign started with funds raised by Marin County parents and matched with contributions made by ro*co films and MissRepresentation.org.

Annie Roney, founder of California-based documentary film distribution company ro*co films, is the brainchild behind the newly created California Public Schools Campaign. The ambitious fundraising effort will make the acclaimed doc film MISS REPRESENTATION and accompanying grade-specific educational modules and curriculum available to public schools in the state at no charge.

MISS REPRESENTATION, written, directed, and produced by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, which premiered to sold out crowds at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, explores how increasingly sexualized portrayals of women and girls in popular culture and news media contribute to the under-representation of women in powerful and influential positions in America. Through interviews with politicians, journalists, entertainers, activists, academics, and youth, the film challenges the media's limiting and often disparaging portrayals of women, which make it difficult for the average girl to feel powerful herself and aspire towards leadership.

"It's critical that students understand how the media can sway their perceptions," says Roney. "We've had record-breaking numbers of schools nationwide using the Miss Rep educational DVD in the classroom and in assemblies, but ironically in California - where the majority of the media we consume is produced - most students don't receive media literacy education, and the budget crisis isn't helping. Given that the California students of today will create the content our nation will watch tomorrow, we need to reach these kids."

The school curriculum developed around MISS REPRESENTATION gives a gender focus to media literacy. It asks boys and girls alike to think about how they are affected by the images and messages they consume during the average 10 hours of media they are exposed to everyday.

"We have an opportunity, by using this film, its education modules and curriculum, to help girls and young women think differently about themselves and their value in the world; simultaneously, we have this opportunity to help boys and young men avoid becoming part of the problem by buying into limiting notions of what it is to be a man in our society," says Jennifer Siebel Newsom. "Parents understand the relevance of the film's messaging right away."

The campaign welcomes donors interested in supporting the efforts of the California Public School Campaign to visit MissRepresentation.org: http://www.missrepresentation.org/donate/

All California public middle schools and high schools can obtain their free copy by visiting http://www.rocoeducational.com/film.php?filmID=MSR. The DVD will be shipped along with curriculum will be emailed to each educator within a week of their order. For questions or comments, please contact Kristin@rocofilms.com.

For press inquires: Diana Iles Parker - diana@spokenmedia.com, 415 225 8121 c

SOURCE ro*co films

ro*co films

Web Site: http://www.rocofilms.com


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