Field of Flowers,a multimedia film that employs music, dance, puppetry, poetry and animation to underscore the plight of domestic violence, will be shown Saturday (June 16) in Wheeling.
West Virginia Universitys Graduate Social Work Organization will host the screening at 6:30 p.m. at the Ohio Valley Nursing Residence Auditorium in Wheeling.
Jude Binder, a social activist and acclaimed visual artist, sculptor and dancer, made the film in collaboration with the West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence. The inspiration came from the stories she heard from counseling groups and in the domestic violence shelters she toured across the Mountain State in the summer of 1996.
She wanted to show the recurring themes of power, control, fear, shame, anger and guilt that are present in any domestic violence situation, she said.
I wanted to use my skills to create something new to offer an activist community which works day and night struggling with staggering human catastrophe,said Binder, who is also a teacher and artistic director at Heartwood in the Hills School for the Arts in Calhoun County.
It took 11 years to completeField of Flowers,Binder said. Much of the action is done with puppets, shadows, masks and interpretive dance. It features music by gospel singer Ethel Caffie-Austin and composer David Ball. The film premiered at the West Virginia State Theater in Charleston last year.
Binder will introduce the film and join representatives of the Tri-County Help Center and YMCA Family Violence Prevention Program in a discussion and question-and-answer session that will follow.
The YMCA program is co-sponsoring the screening with the Ohio Valley Medical Center, Tri-County Help Center, Harmony House and Bethany Memorial Church.
Admission is free. For more information contact Eve Geller, president, WVU Graduate Social Work Organization, at 304-639-7171; or Wheeling graduate faculty member Chatman Neely, 304-374-6794.
The Graduate Social Work Organization is part of the Division of Social Work in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.
