Over 20 years of V-Day, the global activist movement to end violence against all women and girls (cisgender, transgender, and those who hold fluid identities that are subject to gender based violence), we have seen communities come together to centralize the voices of women, embodying the idea that nothing is more powerful than when women tell their stories.
To share one’s story is an immense act of both strength and vulnerability. In the midst of the Kavanaugh nomination process, we acknowledge that this is a difficult and vulnerable time for survivors and activists.
When Dr. Christine Blasey Ford delivered her testimony, many survivors recognized their own painful experiences within her own. As Kavanaugh proceeds towards the final steps of nomination, we witness the cyclical nature of sexual violence in spaces of power. We encourage all who are affected by the triggering nature of these trials and political climate to take care of their emotional and mental health.
As the nomination continues to bring forth often-painful feelings, we must remind our communities and ourselves that support is available:
National Sexual Assault Hotline 1-800-656-4673 National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-7233 or TTY 1-800-787-3224
With creativity and determination, V-activists and survivors around the world tirelessly work to end harassment, rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation and sex slavery. They raise funds and awareness for rape crisis centers and domestic violence shelters that survivors turn to.
As part of your process of healing and moving forward, we invite you to gather your community through art and creative resistance, and raise funds and awareness to end violence against all women and girls.
V-Day, One Billion Rising & City of Joy are thrilled to celebrate our brother, our partner, our friend, Dr. Denis Mukwege and our sister-activist Nadia Murad, who today, both received the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize.
Photo: Paula Allen for V-Day
Dr. Denis Mukwege is a brilliant and compassionate surgeon, the Director of Panzi Hospital, the President of the Panzi Foundation, a pastor, and an activist. For 20 years, he has worked with the deepest vision and love to heal women’s bodies that have been ravaged by rape and war. He has traveled the world in their name, demanding an end to impunity and for international pressure to end the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, making sexual violence in conflict zones an issue that can no longer be denied. Despite having survived an assassination attempt in October of 2012, Dr. Mukwege risks his life daily, continuing to lead Panzi Hospital and perform surgeries, teach comprehensive sexuality education at the City of Joy, and advocate for an end to the conflict in Congo.
A beloved leader, Dr. Mukwege has been a partner of V-Day since 2006, when he and Eve Ensler first met. He was responsible for introducing us to noted human rights activist Christine Schuler Deschryver (Co-founder and Director of the City of Joy and Director of V-Day Congo), who, with the women of Congo, made the City of Joy a reality. The story of their deep history and the bond forged between Dr. Mukwege, Christine and Eve is told in the just released, award winning documentary and Netflix Original film CITY OF JOY. Together, Dr. Mukwege, Christine and Eve are the three co-founders of the revolutionary center for women survivors of gender violence in Congo.
Photo: Paula Allen for V-Day
“This recognition is for an extraordinary man, Dr. Mukwege, who has risked everything to heal, cherish and honor women. It is a call to men across the planet to do the same,” stated Eve Ensler, playwright and V-Day Founder.
Christine Schuler Deschryver shared: “This prize is well deserved. Dr. Mukwege has never given up despite the threats and the difficult conditions in which he lives. He has lost his own freedom to free Congolese women. He is using his voice to free the people – because his voice is heard well beyond the Congo.”
Congratulations Dr. Mukwege! You inspire us each and every day to continue to work to end violence against women in the Congo, and the world over.
Congratulations Nadia Murad! We honor the work of our sister-activist, as she is being recognized for the immense courage she bares, advocating for the end of sexual violence as a weapon of war. By sharing her own story and experiences and calling for accountability, Nadia Murad works to raise awareness and ignite change, in effort to ensure that no woman or girl endures what she did, in the face of imperial, political, and sexual violence and genocide.
Eve wrote about Nadia in 2016 when she was honored as one of the TIME 100. Here is what she wrote: “Nadia Murad stands in a long, invisible history of fierce, indomitable women who rise from the scorched earth of rape during war to break the odious silence and demand justice and freedom for their sisters. At 19 she lost her home, her country, her culture, her mother to murder; witnessed male members of her family murdered in mass killings; and was kidnapped, sold and endlessly raped by members of ISIS. She now travels the world speaking out on the genocide being inflicted on her Yezidi people and demanding release for the more than 3,000 women still held in bondage.
As Europe closes its borders to terrorized refugees in Greece and the U.S. turns its back on the suffering, Nadia is a beacon of light and truth—a reminder that it was the American-led war in Iraq that laid the path for ISIS, that U.S. arms left behind on the battlefield fell into the hands of ISIS and that the U.S. waited too long to intervene in the mass killing and enslavement of the Yezidi people. At 23, Nadia Murad is risking everything to awaken us. I hope we are listening, because we too are responsible.” –Eve Ensler
Following Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s courageous testimony, survivors and activists within the United States and around the world have expressed how powerful her statement was and many survivors found familiarity in her experiences. The hearings were also a stark reminder of the systemic injustices targeting women and marginalized communities in our society.
Nothing is more powerful than when women tell their stories. As we continue to bare witness to this violence and work to end it, we must remember that our voices and stories are vital for creating necessary change. We refuse to be silenced.
We encourage all those who connected with Dr. Ford’s story, those who want to elevate their own voices, and those who want to advocate for survivors everywhere, to reflect on what they can do to create a positive impact.
Survivors Speaking Their Truth, Standing Up to Power; Take Action:
Attend, host or help anchor a local Vigil as part of the national movement taking place TOMORROW, Wednesday, Oct. 3. These events are being sponsored by a host of groups including MoveOn, NARAL, V-Day, One Billion Rising and many more. Create, Post, and Recruit for your event >
Take part in the Cancel Kavanaugh Walkout on Oct. 4. At 4:00, women and all those who believe and stand with them, are called to walk out of work, school, and housework, to show the world that women’s labor runs the world, and when denied dignity and safety, women can stop the world from running. More Information >
Call friends and family to discuss what’s happening and the potential impact of Judge Kavanaugh’s appointment to the Supreme Court.
Set aside time to take care of yourself, and process the difficult and often-painful feelings these hearings may have brought up.
Create space within your community for others to heal and reflect in a similar way.
(Credit: Planned Parenthood Action)
HELP SUPPORT RAPE CRISIS CENTERS AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTERS AND SURVIVORS IN YOUR COMMUNITY, STAGE A V-DAY BENEFIT
Since the hearings last week, calls to rape crisis centers and domestic violence shelters have increased exponentially. V-Day and One Billion Rising – founded for survivors by survivors – are catalysts that call for justice through art – increasing awareness and raising funds for rape crisis centers and domestic violence shelters, & programs in communities that support survivors.
When activists stage V-Day benefit productions of The Vagina Monologues and A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant, and A Prayer, they remind us with each performance, that the personal is political, that speaking out can be an act of resistance. The process of staging events like these is transformative; survivors heal, vital conversations are being opened up in communities, and funds are raised for local organizations that are advocating to end violence against all women and girls. Through One Billion Rising Events, artistic uprisings are taken out of the theater and into the streets, where activists use creative platforms to tell their stories and advocate for necessary change.
As organizers continue to hold radical spaces for V-Day and One Billion Rising events, we encourage and call for spaces that honor and centralize the needs, experiences, and stories of survivors. What this looks like will depend on the needs of the college/community organizing, and can include items such as writing or other creative and healing workshops, and an in-person resource such as a counselor to act as support in case of triggering content at events.
Through this creative resistance, activists attack the silence that allows for violence against women to continue and call for an end to impunity.
This week we watched women survivors telling their truth, standing up to power, moving from victims to survivors to leaders. The women at City of Joy in the DR Congo are in solidarity with survivors all over the world every day turning pain into power. We share this piece today in honor of brave women everywhere who have broken the silence and joined a movement of sisters to heal themselves and the world.
#WeBelieveSurvivors
“What Has Changed” – Eve’s Latest Piece on Her Return to City of Joy After Two Long Awaited Years; Photo Essay by Paula Allen
Eve has just returned from the City of Joy in Bukavu after two, long awaited years. Traveling along with photojournalist Paula Allen, the two documented their trip as they reunite with Co-founder and Director of City of Joy and V-Day Congo Christine Schuler Deschryver, and detail the changes that have taken place, both on the land, and in the resilient hearts and spirits of the women of the City of Joy.
1117 women have graduated.
They have gone on to:
lead in their communities
run farm collectives
go to school
recruit other women for City of Joy
live at V-World Farm now and work as farmers
demand their rights
become nurses, teachers, herbalists, social workers,
healers, organizers
refuse men who are not their equals.
Girls have turned the stones in their hearts and pasts into flowers.
A meditation hut has been erected where the perfect breeze wafts through layers of stunning tapestry… There are silent zones to pause and reflect and feel peace.
There are 200 farmers and workers employed, 300 families are living off a gifted piece of land. The surrounding community is part of the project…the food feeds the girls at City of Joy.
Victims have become survivors who have become leaders.
This is the new paradigm manifested on earth. A world where staff are filled with so much joy they literally stop their morning, take off their shoes to dance. Where crying is invited, where ideas are expansive, where love is the central verb. City of Joy is the diamond in the rough. The rising citadel in the center of war and brokenness. Where the radiance of those who have turned their suffering into power spreads in all direction, Where miracles are catalyzed by the transfiguration of pain into joy.
20 years since Eve Ensler’s play The Vagina Monologues shattered taboos, the stakes could not be higher. V-Day is a movement that grew out of the untold stories of women. We believe women. We believe in their right to tell their stories and we believe their stories need to be heard – nothing is more powerful.
The Vagina Monologues gave birth to V-Day, a global activist movement to end violence against all women and girls (cisgender, transgender, and those who hold fluid identities that are subject to gender based violence). With creativity and determination, V-activists around the world tirelessly work to end harassment, rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation and sex slavery.
We feel the energy of rising up, of resistance, of bold artistic energy and creativity coming forward from V-Day and One Billion Rising activists across the globe. At the City of Joy in Congo, 1117 women survivors have graduated, and the documentary film also entitled CITY OF JOY was just released on Netflix, bringing a vast global audience their message of Turning Pain to Power.
2019 V-Day Spotlight Announced: Women in Prison, Detention Centers, and Formerly Incarcerated Women: Every year, the V-Day Spotlight campaign calls attention to a particular group of women who are experiencing elevated levels of violence and disproportionate socio-political marginalization, in an effort to raise awareness for the issues they face and aid the community groups working to address these injustices.
Created in collaboration with formerly incarcerated women and activists, the Spotlight will focus on Women in Prisons and Jails, Detention Centers, and Formerly Incarcerated Women. A direct connection exists between violence and abuse done to women and girls and the risk that those women and girls will be directly impacted by incarceration. In the U.S., 86% of women in prison were sexually and/or physically abused prior to incarceration, as reported by The Vera Institute for Justice in 2017. In the aftermath of abuse, trauma can lead to substance abuse and addiction, which can easily become a pathway to more violence, crime and/or incarceration. Women and children in detention, as with women and girls in prison, are not safe. In the United States, the immigration crisis under the Trump Administration has left a staggering number of refugees in over 200 immigrant prisons and jails[1]. According to Freedom for Immigrants it is unclear how many facilities exist in the U.S. and around the world[2]. In April 2018, The Intercept reported that it had unearthed hundreds of complaints about sexual and physical abuse in detention centers at the hands of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents[3]. This is just the tip of the iceberg. READ more…
Amplifying New Voices: Since V-Day first began in 1998, many new and long term activists have begun to stage their own works reflecting the voices in their communities. If you would like to foreground new voices in the conversation around ending violence against women, we encourage you to do so by curating stories from your community and creating a new artistic evening that you present separately. Many organizers have done this, both instead of “The Vagina Monologues” and in addition to it. It’s a wonderful way to invite local writers, activists and artists to participate.
This year, in place of a traditional V-Day Spotlight monologue, we invite activists to amplify and lift up the often unheard and excluded voices of survivors, activists and groups in your communities by creating three community-written testimonies, to be performed at the end of the play. These pieces should center the voices of the most marginalized women on your stage, harnessing the power of The Vagina Monologues to create a space for critical conversations and voices. READ more about Testimonies of Rising.
When women take the stage, incredible things happen, as their issues are voiced and confronted for all to see and hear.
DONATION: Donate 90% of your proceeds to a group or groups in your community who are doing anti-violence work. For example, a local rape crisis center or domestic violence shelter. SPOTLIGHT DONATION: Send 10% of your proceed to the V-Day 2019 Spotlight on Women in Prison, Detention Centers, and Formerly Incarcerated Women.
ONE BILLION RISING 2019: RISING: FROM A CAMPAIGN, TO A WAY OF LIFE
Through One Billion Rising, activists worldwide have mobilized, engaged, awakened and joined people across the planet to end violence against women and girls. We have made violence against women a global issue, not relegated to country or tribe or class or religion.
We are living in a time of upheaval and transformation. Together we have been rising to free all women from sexual and physical violence in its more overt and obvious forms: rape, battery, incest, sexual harassment, female genital mutilation, sexual slavery and trafficking, child marriage, femicide, sexual-gender and reproductive oppression and violence towards LGBTQIA+ communities. And, we have had many victories.
As we come into our 7th year of One Billion Rising, we are faced with bigger challenges. To end violence against women, we must commit ourselves to a deeper examination of violence in all its forms. Along with sexual and physical violence, we must also look at systemic violence in economic, political, socio-cultural, environmental and ideological spheres. As we continue to Rise to end violence against women – it is imperative now for us to expand our understanding of women’s oppression and exploitation in the context of capitalism, colonization, racism, imperialism, environmental plunder and war. We have been compartmentalized and divided for too long. Our Rising must now connect our specific oppression to the common universal humanity that binds us all. This is no less than a way of life, a way of seeing, a way of being in the world. It is not one day that we rise, but every day that this consciousness must rise in all we do.
Watch the Film, Host a House Party or Screening & Spread the Word
Whether you are new to City of Joy and V-Day or have been with us in the movement since its inception, know that you are joining a network of activists who will be viewing the film and hosting screenings and house parties around the world to celebrate the work of City of Joy, honoring the women leaders of the Congo and the 1100 women who have graduated from the City of Joy, joining together in a network of love and revolution, Turning Pain to Power.
Go to vspot.vday.org, and register for an account or sign in to your existing account. Afterwards, click on the event or events you want to apply for and follow the instructions.
*If you wish to perform The Vagina Monologues in other months, you may purchase the rights from Dramatists Play Service. Performance rights information can be found at www.eveensler.org/plays.
Eve Ensler, V-Day Board Member Thandie Newton* and One Billion Rising Global Director Monique Wilson, Artists, Musicians & Activists
To mark the 20th anniversary of The Vagina Monologues and V-Day, One Billion Rising and V-Day are calling on activists in London to Rise, Resist, and Unite for a special evening at Café De Paris on 26 September.
V20 London Rising will be an Artistic UpRising and celebration of the revolutionary work of V-Day and One Billion Rising activists and artists around the world. The evening will fuse music, theatre, dance, poetry, movement, and film in a creatively subversive, provocative and powerful performance art piece celebrating women, while also honoring the groundbreaking path that The Vagina Monologues set forth over two decades ago.
An evening as such is urgently needed in these times of escalating violence. From violence towards women and girls to violence geared towards workers, refugees, and displaced people, to the violence being committed towards Mother Earth, the evening will inspire activists working across all spheres to keep doing their important work.
Join EVE ENSLER, V-Day Board Member THANDIE NEWTON* and One Billion Rising Global Director MONIQUE WILSON along with an astounding line up of artists and activists from the UK, US, France, Bali, Italy and the Philippines to celebrate the pioneering achievements of the last 20 years. This Artistic UpRising also features Vocalist KARIN GODFREY, Women from the LONDON CAPOEIRA COMMUNITY, UK born Nigerian premiere singer ENO WILLIAMS – UFFORT, British multi-platform artist, singer, musician, actress, songwriter RIAH KNIGHT, International singer/actress STEPHANIE VAN DRIESEN joined by COGNATUS THEATRE – an international theatre group founded by women from 6 countries, social rebels who create work for women by women, dance group LAHING KAYUMANGGI doing the Philippine indigenous “Banga” fierce warrior women dance, THE ALPACAS – a London based multi-national pop rock band with members coming from Romania, Mexico, UK and Japan, International Circus Artists LE RENNE – doing aerial acrobatic performances in silk and hoop duo, and the MONAMAS THEATRE COMPANY – an international theatre company based in London led by Greek born actresses who do devised work that alter and defy all traditional theatrical rules. One of the featured short films of the evening will be the premiere of THE FEMININE RISE, created by OBR Bali coordinators LAYLA EL KHADRI and SERAINA DUVEEN. And igniting the dancing for the evening will be one of the world’s most in-demand and top female DJs DJ PHILLY with her trademark Hip Hop, R&B and House music. The show is conceptualized and directed by Monique Wilson.
The evening will also feature several grand flash mobs of the One Billion Rising theme song “Break The Chain,” as well as the One Billion Rising Tilburg, Netherlands original dance/song “We Are Beautiful,” featuring over 50 international actors from the East 15 Acting School as well as West End actors, who will be joined by women refugees and women workers from Voice of Domestic Workers.
The evening is produced by New Voice Company (UK) Limited, Rossana Abueva/One Billion Rising UK Coordinator and V-Day/One Billion Rising.
The time is now, to keep building, fostering, nurturing, and inspiring real, powerful solidarity amongst all movements. And to keep creating art as forms of rebellion, disruption, celebration and hope. Art that calls on us all to Rise for love and life. Please join us! Tickets are £36.00 and can be purchased here: www.onebillionrising.org/londonrising
Released Globally TODAY as a Netflix Original Film, The Award-winning CITY OF JOY Takes the Audience on an Intimate and Inspiring Journey
News, reviews and interviews are breaking across the media. Following is a snapshot of what’s being said about the film:
“How does one find joy amid unspeakable tragedy? Madeleine Gavin’s documentary City of Joy, about a community built around women who have survived horrific violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), gives us a glimpse at both an incredible injustice still occurring today, and how Congolese women are combating it with their own grassroots movement.” – Clara Mae in The Guardian
“”City of Joy” is a powerful act of bearing witness.” – RogerEbert.com
“Raw visceral painful heart breaking joyous hopeful film about The City of Joy in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a place where women can go to heal and find strength in he face of the violence committed against them. It is one of the most vital, important and best films I saw in 2016 and now it is coming to Netflix.” – The truly hopeful CITY OF JOY hits Netflix Friday – Unseen Films
Watch the Film, Host A House Party or Screening & Spread the Word
Whether you are new to City of Joy and V-Day or have been with us in the movement since its inception, know that you are joining a network of activists who will be viewing the film and hosting screenings and house parties around the world to celebrate the work of City of Joy, honoring the women leaders of the Congo and the 1100 women who have graduated from the City of Joy, joining together in a network of love and revolution, Turning Pain to Power.
The film will spread the message of the City of Joy far and wide across Netflix’s 190-country network, inspiring women leaders everywhere.
The story of City of Joy is the story of love and community. It is the story of what happens when women who are sexual survivors live together in community, heal themselves and each other, and create their destiny on their own terms. The transformation that is seen at City of Joy is profound – the most abused become the most powerful who turn poison into medicine, isolation into community, shame into self-love, silence into story. This is the story of what happens when women have time to heal and truly release and transform trauma, when women are loved and held and nurtured and treated with deepest kindness, dignity and intention.
Our gratitude to the first class at City of Joy, the Co-Founders of City of Joy Christine Schuler Deschryver, Dr. Denis Mukwege, and Eve Ensler, and Director Madeleine Gavin and the filmmakers for capturing the story of City of Joy.
TUNE in as Christine Schuler Deschryver – City of Joy Co-Founder and Director, Eve Ensler – Playwright, Founder of V-Day, and Co-Founder of City of Joy, and Madeleine Gavin – CITY OF JOY Film Director are interviewed about CITY OF JOY.
BUZZFEED AM TO DM WHAT: Amber Jamieson’s live on-camera interview with Christine and Eve on behalf of the film. WHEN: Thursday, 6 September at 10:30AM EST WHERE: Live on Buzzfeed News Twitter: https://twitter.com/AM2DM/status/1037774434050957312
WBAI RADIO WHAT: Mike Sargent’s taped interview with Madeleine and Christine on behalf of the film. WHEN: Monday, 10 September at 12:10AM EST WHERE: 99.5 FM (locally in New York) Listen online: http://www.wbai.org
AMANPOUR WHAT: Christiane Amanpour’s taped on-camera interview with Christine and Eve on behalf of the film. WHEN: Thursday, 6 September at 2:00pm EST and 5:00pm EST on CNN International, and then at 11:00pm EST on PBS WHERE: CNNi & PBS *Check your local listings Or watch online: https://www.pbs.org/video/amanpour-david-frum-marc-lotter-and-city-of-joy-sau97l/
*interview beings at 10:35
1010 WINS NEWSRADIO WHAT: Kyle McMorrow’s taped interview with Madeleine Gavin on behalf of the film. WHEN: Night of Friday, 7 September / Morning of Saturday, 8 September, exact air time TBD WHERE: 1010 AM locally in New York *Check your local listings
In Bukavu, a city in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, there is a place where women who’ve suffered brutal rapes at the hands of violent militias can find safety, comfort, and recovery. The new Netflix documentary City of Joy, premiering on Sept. 7, captures these survivors’ lives and recovery process, showing how they slowly rebuild their lives after trauma. But in addition to telling the heart-wrenching stories of these brave people, the doc also highlights the importance of women taking initiative, learning more about their own bodies, and participating in female sexual education.
Directed by Madeleine Gavin, City of Joy tells the story of the recovery community for Congolese women founded by Christine Schuler-Deschryver, a Congolese-Belgian women’s rights activist; Dr. Denis Mukwege, a Congolese gynecologist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee; and Eve Ensler, the American feminist activist and playwright famous for penning The Vagina Monologues. The center helps women heal both physically and mentally from trauma by teaching them self defense techniques, business skills, and ways to express their experiences with writing, public speaking, and celebrating their lives.
A big part of the women’s experience at City of Joy involves female empowerment, and not just through the use of fighting techniques. The participants learn that as women, they don’t have to be submissive, and that they hold the power to enable their own recoveries. This is the most evident in the story of one woman, Jane, who’s survived rape and her family’s murder. It’s an extremely painful tale to hear, but Jane’s recovery, positivity, drive, and happiness are inspiring and a testament to the successful execution of City of Joy.
One of the biggest elements in helping these women thrive after trauma involves teaching them about their own bodies. For so many of these women, anatomy is foreign territory. Their vulvas, vaginas, bladders, rectums, and reproductive systems suffer intensely during their tortures, but they’re also the parts of their own bodies that the women have been taught to avoid. Most of them have never seen their own vaginas, have been told that even saying the word is a sin, and that the violation of it is something to be ashamed of. So when the women are given hand mirrors to examine themselves, it’s incredible to watch their embarrassment quickly give way to pride. No woman should ever be ashamed of their own body parts.
In the documentary, Dr. Mukwege says that the center aims to “revolutionize the minds of Congolese women.” It’s clear that this has as much to do with teaching them new skills as it does with smashing the patriarchal ideas having to do with female bodies and rape n some countries. Watching the film, it’s shocking to hear that the men in these women’s lives reject them after their trauma. Husbands abandon wives who have been raped, their humiliation overpowering their supposed loyalty, and fathers cast out daughters, lest a curse be brought upon their household. These old-fashioned ideas of masculinity and the stigma placed on women due to culture and religion showcase just how important it is for women to be given the skills to speak up.
Around the world, it’s becoming more and more clear that sex education can provide a clearer path to safety and independence, especially for women. Studies and statistics show that more comprehensive sex education helps decrease sexual violence. The women in City of Joy have experienced unimaginable crimes, and the stories of their recovery are simultaneously heartbreaking and uplifting. But as the doc shows, knowledge is power, and one’s own body can be our first educational tool.
Parents need to know that City of Joy is a powerful documentary about women and girls of Bukavu, Eastern Congo who have survived rape and been victimized by the horrors of war. The women and staff profiled in this film live in The City of Joy, a nonprofit community that works to heal the survivors and provide them with leadership tools so that they, too, can work toward helping others. Celebrated as a remarkable success, the facility “graduates” 180 women per year. A significant element of women’s recovery is truth-telling, and their stories are heartbreakingly cruel and sexually violent. Discussion of the female body and its reproductive organs is frank, and sometimes the evil perpetrated upon the women/girls is harrowing. On the other hand, the film’s focus on the miraculous folks who have committed both their professional and personal lives to saving these women (some barely in their teens) and the progress of the women themselves makes the movie both inspirational, optimistic, and ultimately satisfying. Due to its mature themes and the stories told, this isn’t a movie for kids.
WHAT’S THE STORY?
CITY OF JOY takes place in Bukavu, Eastern Congo, where a devastating war has been going on since 1996. The outlying areas, which are the source of abundant and valuable minerals, are under siege. Multinational companies “employ” militias of young men who are tasked with emptying the villages. Raping and pillaging are a primary military tactic. Hundreds of thousands of women and girls have been raped; children and infants have been slaughtered. Citizens flee from the violence, leaving the resources to the aggressors. Dr. Denis Mukwege, a gynecologist, and Christina Schuyler-Deschryver, a community activist, founded The City of Joy as a safe harbor for survivors. Eve Ensler, playwright and tireless worker on behalf of women, joins them. The residents’ medical and psychological needs are met to the greatest extent possible. In addition, the women are trained as leaders, their terrifying experiences a backdrop for their renewal. City of Joy offers a new life, hope, community, and inspiration. The women tell their stories. They are instructed in the art of self-defense. Most significant are their efforts to regain their selfhood and their joy. They dance; they sing; they sew; they support one another; they take steps to re-enter the world under their own power.
IS IT ANY GOOD?
This moving, beautifully-executed documentary is as heartbreaking as it is uplifting; the women of this extraordinary community are the bravest of souls, the most resilient, and the most inspiring. Madeleine Gavin has delivered a film that gives special meaning to the motto of this community. Like the residents there who learn to live again, Gavin has “transformed pain” into a powerful film that deserves to be seen. Winner of Best Documentary Film awards at an array of film festivals, it’s sometimes a challenge to watch. Stories told with such detailed sexual violence and such intimacy cannot help but elicit profound emotions.
At the same time, the messages — about resilience, about the ability of an individual to radically affect change — leaven the horror with hope. It’s rare to encounter a hero such as Dr. Mukwege, a young woman with the courage of Jane Mukunila, or such stalwart activists as Christine Schuyler-Deschryver and Eve Ensler. This film assures that they won’t be forgotten.
TALK TO YOUR KIDS ABOUT …
Families can talk about the intentions of documentary films — to entertain, instruct or inform, inspire, and/or persuade. In which category(ies) does City of Joy belong? Why?
The rallying cry for the community known as The City of Joy is “Transform Pain into Power.” What character traits (i.e., perseverance, courage) are integral to making this transformation?
How does this film show the impact one individual can make in today’s world? Why do you think people like Dr. Mukwege, Christine-Schuyler-Deschryver, and Eve Ensler continue to be of service? In what ways is their work rewarding to them? Have you ever experienced such personal dividends? Think about your community. Where might you be able to make a difference?
