Poster Girl, a nominee for this year's Academy Award for Best Documentary, Short Subject, premieres April 27 at George Mason University. The showing, beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the Johnson Center Cinema, will be followed by a discussion with Sara Nesson, the film's director, and Robynn Murray, who is featured in the film.
The film tells the story of Murray, an all-American high-school cheerleader turned “poster girl” for women in combat, distinguished by Army Magazine’s cover shot. Now home from Iraq, her tough exterior begins to crack, leaving her struggling with the debilitating effects of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Shot and directed by first-time filmmaker Nesson, Poster Girl is an emotionally raw documentary that follows Murray over the course of two years as she embarks on a journey of self-discovery and redemption, using art and poetry to redefine her life.
The film is selected for this year's Hot Docs Festival in Toronto, the Athena Film Festival at Barnard College, the One World International Film Festival in Prague, the Women's Film Festival in Brattleboro, VT, and New York's Stranger Than Fiction Winter Series.
The event is sponsored by Film and Media Studies, Art and Visual Technology, Cultural Studies, English, Film & Video Studies, Global and Community Health, History, Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology, University Life, and Women and Gender Studies. As this diverse list suggests, organizers expect the film and filmmakers' presentation will generate fruitful discussion of a range of issues, including women in the military, war veterans, trauma, and post-traumatic stress disorder, women and gender issues in thr broader culture, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the use of art as a means to self-expression and rehabilitation.
The event is free and open to the public.