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Film Buzz: Taking Root- The Vision of Wangari Maathai

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Wangari Maathai (image via the Green Belt Movement)Tonight the Indigo Arts Gallery in the Crane Arts Building will screen the film, Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai, directed and produced by Alan Dater and Lisa Merton. The film tells the story of Wangari Maathai, a woman born in rural Kenya whose simple act of planting trees led her to reclaim Kenya’s land from 100 years of brutal deforestation, provide new sources of food and income to rural communities, award Kenyan women a vital political role, and ultimately assist in ending the country’s 24-year dictatorship.

In 1977 Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement, a grassroots organization encouraging rural women to plant trees to provide shade, prevent social erosion, supply firewood and building material, and produce nutritious fruit. From there, Maathai realized that promoting self-sufficiency led to empowering change and her activism grew. Her work led her to receive a Nobel Peace Prize and the title of Assistant Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources in 2002 as part of Kenya’s newly democratic government.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to witness for yourself Maathai’s journey towards achieving social and environmental change.  

The screening will take place Thursday, April 28 at 8 p.m. at the Crane Arts Building, located at 1400 N. American St. For more information, you can call the Arts Gallery at (215) 765-1041 or check out the film’s website: www.takingrootfilm.com.

To view the film’s trailer, continue after the jump.

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