AETN, UALR radio to screen ‘Pushing the Elephant’
The Arkansas Educational Television Network (AETN) and University of Arkansas-Little Rock Public Radio/KUAR FM 89.1 have invited the public to a free screening of “Pushing the Elephant” as part of Community Cinema at 6 p.m. Monday at Roosevelt Thompson Library in Little Rock.
“Pushing the Elephant,” a film by Beth Davenport and Elizabeth Mandel, tells the story of Rose Mapendo, who lost her husband and her home during the ethnic violence that engulfed the Democratic Republic of Congo in the 1990s. When war came to Mapendo’s village, she was separated from her 5-year-old daughter, Nangabire. Mapendo managed to escape with nine of her 10 children and eventually resettled in Phoenix, Ariz. Over a decade later, mother and daughter are reunited in the U.S., where they must face the past and build a new future.
The film follows Mapendo and Nangabire over the course of two years as they make up for lost time. Mapendo struggles to find balance in her life as a mother of 10 and a full-time advocate for refugees.
The screening will be held in Roosevelt Thompson Library, 38 Rahling Circle off Chenal Parkway in Little Rock. A community discussion will be held following the screening. More information is available by calling AETN at 800-662-2386 or visiting www.aetn.org/engage.
“Pushing the Elephant” will air at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 30, at on AETN-3 PLUS/World and at 10:30 p.m. Sunday, April 3, on AETN-1.
