The public is invited to The Big Picture screening of the award winning documentary Into the Light with producer-director Peter Glenn , and a discussion on the AIDS Crisis in Africa.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009 ~ World AIDS Day
7:30 p.m.

"When you ask people, do you think Tanzanians know what they should know about AIDS everyone will say 'yeah, yeah, they know,' but if they know then why is the problem still there?" So asks Tanzanian sociologist Mama Lyimo (pronounced "Lee-Mo") about the horrific and emotional toll of the HIV/AIDS death rate in her East African country. A woman of immense heart and strong will, Lyimo wants to know why hundreds of thousands of her countrymen and women are dying each year, leaving behind children with no one to care for them, no one to comfort them, no one to teach them. Setting out on a 40-day journey across Tanzania to see for herself why the pandemic continues to thrive, Lyimo is compelled to find out the answer as she listens to people's stories, all the while giving a passionate and unrelenting face to the African fight against AIDS. When she befriends an illuminating AIDS orphan named Suzy, Lyimo's personal journey becomes more urgent and intimate than she could have ever imagined. One woman's commanding proclamation on the state of the human condition, Into the Light is both devastating and inspiring: from a caring heart to the driven action of a woman on a mission, Into the Light strikes a note of hope amidst a sea of pain.

In July of 2008, Into the Light won the Ousmane Sembene Films for Development Award at the Zanzibar International Film Festival in Tanzania. The film celebrated its world premiere at the International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam in November of 2007. It made its U.S. premiere at the Pan African Film Festival of Los Angeles in February of 2008. Into the Light has also screened at the OneWorld International Documentary Festival in Prague and the Amakula Kampala International Film Festival in 2008. The film continues to be invited to screen at film festivals around the world.  The evening will conclude with a remarks by local experts, and a public forum with producer-director Peter Glenn.

Learn more about this feature documentary online at www.intothelightfilm.com.  Learn more about The Big Picture: Documentary Series for Faith and Culture.

Location The Rose Hills Auditorium, Ahmanson Weingart Hall Mount Saint Mary's College (Doheny Campus) 10 Chester Place, Los Angeles, CA 90007 View Maps & Directions

Admission Free and Open to the Public! Donations welcomed.

ABOUT THE DOCUMENTARIAN

Peter Glenn is an American filmmaker with a passion for telling stories that create bridges across borders. Into the Light is his first feature length documentary. After earning his bachelor’s degree from Loyola Marymount University’s School of Film & Television, Peter journeyed to East Africa to serve as Director of the Video Production Programme at St. Augustine University of Tanzania. While teaching in Tanzania, he met a colleague at his university named Mama Lyimo who was doing research projects on AIDS. Wanting to tell the stories of people most affected by the Pandemic, Mama Lyimo asked Peter to make a documentary film with her. With a crew comprised of his Tanzanian students, his brother, and friends from film school, Peter spent the next three years working with Mama Lyimo in order to tell the story of her journey to bring humanity and hope to the fight against AIDS in Africa. Peter returned to the United States to Co-Direct the Telly Award winning film On the Line that stars Martin Sheen, Susan Sarandon, and Presidential candidate Bob Barr. The film had its international debut at the 2008 Cannes Film Market and will premiere in the Fall of 2008 on Al Jazeera. Having produced, directed, filmed and edited award-winning films on 4 continents, Peter currently serves as President of Ndugu Films where he is in-development on several feature film projects.

ABOUT THE RESPONDENTS

Susan Scheibler, PhD is Associate Professor of Film and Television Studies at Loyola Marymount University. Sue holds graduate degrees in New Testament Studies (MA, Talbot Theological Seminary, 1978); Philosophy of Religion (MA, Claremont Graduate School, 1984); Critical Studies (MA and PhD, School of Film and Television, USC, PhD in 1994). She taught communication arts, theater and performance, film and television history and theory, feminist theory, gay and lesbian studies, and advanced humanities studies (philosophy and literature) at Biola University, USC, Cal State Northridge, UCLA, and the Institute for Gay and Lesbian Studies. Sue began teaching film studies at LMU as a part time instructor in 1991, and continued either in a part time or in a visiting full time position until she was hired as an assistant professor in 2001. Her areas of interest and specialization include documentary studies, video game theory and analysis, film theory, Asian film (with an emphasis on anime), international film, and television studies.