Community Cinema begins its second season on Vashon next week with a 45-minute premier that follows actress Olivia Wilde to Kenya, where she explores issues of women’s economic empowerment. Called “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide,” the film is a preview of a four-hour mini-series that will air on PBS Oct. 1 and 2.
The free screening will be shown at Vashon Theatre at 6 p.m. Tuesday and marks the ongoing evolution of this cinema program on the Island. It started last year after Islander Jane Berg attended Welcome Vashon and felt inspired to bring the nationwide program to Vashon as a way to build community and explore issues.
Following the film will be a discussion featuring Priscilla Schleigh, owner of Giraffe, Anne Atwell with the Maasai Children’s Initiative and Heidi Breeze Harris, director of One by One, which is attempting to end fistula.
Last year, the films were shown at Ober Park. This year, the series — slated for the last Tuesday of each month — will be shown at Vashon Theatre, part of owner Eileen Wolcott’s pledge to let nonprofits use the theater in return for the community’s purchase of new digital equipment for the movie house.
Other movies this fall include “As Goes Janesville” on Oct. 30, a look at the closing of a GM plant in Wisconsin, and “Solar Mamas” on Nov. 27, featuring women in India working to make their communities sustainable and self-reliant.
