Salve Regina hosting screening of “Girl Rising” documentary

“Girl Rising,” the powerful documentary film that serves as the centerpiece of a global campaign to educate and empower girls, will be screened at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 19 in the Bazarsky Lecture Hall.

Directed by Academy Award nominee Richard Robbins, the film spotlights nine extraordinary girls from nine countries to showcase the strength of the human spirit and the power of education to change the world.

Each of the girls featured have been born into unforgiving circumstances. Sokha is an orphan who rises from a life in the garbage dump in Phnom Penh, Cambodia to become a star student and an accomplished dancer. Suma, who writes songs that help her endure forced servitude in Nepal, crusades to free others. And Ruksana is an Indian “pavement-dweller” whose father sacrifices his own basic needs for his daughter’s dreams.

Each of the stories are narrated by celebrated actresses, including Cate Blanchett (Haiti), Priyanka Chopra (India), Selena Gomez (Sierra Leone), Anne Hathaway (Afghanistan), Salma Hayek (Peru), Alicia Keys (Cambodia), Chloe Moretz (Egypt), Meryl Streep (Ethiopia) and Kerry Washington (Nepal). “Girl Rising” also features Freida Pinto and Liam Neeson, with original music from Academy Award winner Rachel Portman and Lorne Balfe.

The screening is sponsored by the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, the global studies program and the Department of English, along with the Office of Multicultural Programs and Plan International USA.