NASHVILLE, Tenn. — NO!, a documentary about rape in the
African-American community, will be screened Tuesday, April 5, at
Vanderbilt University, followed by a discussion led by filmmaker Aishah
Shahidah Simmons.
During a three-day visit to Vanderbilt, Simmons will speak at a
separate event about independent filmmaking and lead a symposium for
service providers to victims of domestic and sexual assault.
Simmons is an African American feminist lesbian devoted to using the
spoken and written word and film to explore the impact of racism,
sexism and heterosexism in the lives of black women and girls, and to
promote progressive social change. She won the Audre Lorde Legacy Award
in 1998 for combining activism and scholarship in the tradition
established by Lorde, a late poet and activist.
“NO! links the debilitating effects of racism and sexism to one
another and even manages to explore the ways that sexual orientation
and gender identity affect the calculus,” said Michelle J. Anderson,
professor of law at Villanova University School of Law. “It is a
sophisticated and powerful film.”
NO! will be screened from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, April 5,
in Room 126 of Wilson Hall on the Vanderbilt campus. Simmons will lead
a discussion from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., and a reception will precede the
screening from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Simmons will speak about independent filmmaking from 4 p.m. to 6
p.m. on Wednesday, April 6, in Room 118 of the Bishop Joseph Johnson
Black Cultural Center at Vanderbilt.
The April 5 and 6 events are free and open to the public and are
sponsored by the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center in
partnership with Project Safe of the Margaret Cuninggim Women‘s Center
and the Tennessee Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence.
On Thursday, April 7, Simmons will lead a lunchtime symposium at the
University Club of Nashville on providing culturally responsive service
to women and communities of color. The noon to 3 p.m. symposium will be
aimed at service providers to victims of domestic and sexual assault.
Cost for the lunch and symposium is $15. To register, call Vicky Basra
at 615-322-1333.
Media contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS
Jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu