By Almeera Anwar
A group of women in the Quest Life Together Women’s Group from Interbay is hosting a free documentary screening this Friday at the Q Café (3233 15th Ave W., south of the Ballard Bridge) in hopes of sparking some dialogue and awareness around the issue of girl bullying. The documentary is called “Finding Kind” and it addresses girls bullying other girls. (View the trailer here)
It was produced by two filmmakers from Seattle who live in California, Lauren Parsekian and Molly Thompson, and has been viewed in schools, hosted screenings, and numerous film festivals. The film discusses how girl bullying is different than other kinds of harassment and this women’s group truly believes that the response needs to reflect those differences.
Christina Olson is a Ballard resident and a member of the Quest Church women’s group that raised the $500 licensing fee in order to put on this free screening. The group of about ten to fifteen women raised the money through a variety of means such as donations, babysitting, the Good Neighbor fund and spreading the word about the project at large.
“Every year our group takes on a project or a series of projects that we think will benefit the community,” said Olson. “Someone brought up this documentary, asked how we would feel about doing the screening and it quickly evolved into our project for this year.”
Olson thinks that people were extra generous with this project because it’s an issue that so many people can relate to. “Many women have been victims of bullying and this documentary focuses on how bullying within girls is very different than with boys,” said Olson. “It does not diminish what happens to boys but the actions definitely manifest differently in adulthood for girls.” Some of the women in the group are teachers and they discussed how they witness this bullying every day. While there are some things they can do, there is a lot that is out of their scope as well.
The group will be hosting a guided discussion after the film. The filmmakers have created a curriculum that can be used to help guide dialogue. Some of the women from the group will speak during this discussion, including Olson, and will be sharing their own experiences with bullying and how it can relate to later issues.
The goal is not to put people on the spot, but rather to open the dialogue and share thoughts on this issue. If people are interested in attending the screening and discussion after they need to RSVP ahead of time in order for the group to ensure they have room for all that wish to attend.
