Brave Miss World Screenings Scheduled For CT Schools

The documentary film Brave Miss World, which chronicles Israeli pageant queen Linor Abargil's journey from teenage survivor of a vicious sexual assault to lawyer and international activist for rape victims, will be screened next week at seven Connecticut colleges and universities.

The movie looks at the difficulty women often face finding support and justice after being raped. In the course of the film Abargil, who went public with the details of her own attack years after it occurred, travels around the world speaking to rape survivors ranging from college students in the U.S. to celebrities to young girls in South Africa. She also completes law school, marries, and has children, all while dealing with the lasting repercussions of what happened to her one night in 1998, just before she won the Miss World competition.

Brave Miss World was directed by Cecilia Peck, known for her 2006 film Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing, about the political controversy surrounding the country trio. It had its New England premier as part of the Hartford Jewish Film Festival at the Hartford Spotlight theatre on Sunday, March 23. After the film, a panel including Garvin G. Ambrose, Victim Advocate for the State of Connecticut; Rachel Marcus, a social worker with Jewish Family Services of Greater Hartford; and Peck (via Skype from her home in California) discussed the trauma often suffered by rape victims after the crime is committed.

Dates and times of the area campus screenings, which are free and open only to students, staff, and faculty, are as follows:

Tuesday, March 25

University of Connecticut Waterbury Campus, Room 113, 4:00 p.m. and 6:45 p.m.

University of St. Joseph, Hoffman Auditorium, 4:00 p.m.

Wednesday, March 26

Trinity College, Cinestudio, 4:30 p.m.

Albertus Magnus College, Behan Community Room, 6:00 p.m.

Central Connecticut State University, Torp Theatre, 7:00 p.m.

Thursday, March 27

University of Connecticut at Storrs, Oak Hall 101, 6:30 p.m.

University of Hartford, Wilde Auditorium, 7:30 p.m.

For more information on the film, including resources for survivors and information on how schools and community organizations can host screenings, see bravemissworld.com.