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Third Thursday Screenings

"A Powerful Noise," 7 p.m., March 19, 2009

The Wichita Association for the Motion Picture Arts (WAMPA) and Tallgrass Film Festival will screen, "A Powerful Noise," in celebration of International Women's Day and Women's History Month as part of the Third Thursday Film Series. The independent documentary film will be presented Thursday, March 19 at 7 p.m. at the Old Town Warren Theater, 353 N. Mead. Tickets are $9 general admission and $7 for students and seniors. The director, Tom Cappello, will introduce the film and answer questions following the screening. Attendees are invited to a reception after the Q&A session. Wichita State University's Center for Women's Studies is presenting sponsor for the event.

"A Powerful Noise," by executive producer Sheila C. Johnson, takes you inside the lives of three women in different parts of the world who are taking the lead as successful agents of change in their communities. Hanh is an HIV-positive widow in Vietnam; Nada, a survivor of the Bosnian war; and Jacqueline works the slums of Bamako, Mali. What these women from vastly different worlds share is power, according to apowerfulnoise.com: "These women are each overcoming gender barriers to rise up and claim a voice in their societies. Through their empowerment and ability to empower others, Hanh, Nada, and Jacqueline are sparking remarkable changes: Fighting AIDS; rebuilding communities; educating girls."

The March screening, co-sponsored by Theresa and Judge Harold Flaigle, will mark the second Third Thursday film event in the 2009 monthly series hosted by Warren Theaters. Each sponsored screening in the series raises funds for the Tallgrass Film Festival. Founded in 2003 by the late Timothy Gruver, the Tallgrass Film Festival is a program of the Wichita Association for the Motion Picture Arts (WAMPA), a non-profit 501(c)3 arts organization dedicated to entertaining and enlightening audiences from America's Heartland. Through the Festival, Third Thursday Film Series, Cinema Al Fresco Series, WAMPA Filmmaker Academy, and Special Screenings, WAMPA spotlights the city's venues, cultural attractions and artistic communities.

Sponsors for the 2009 Tallgrass Film Festival, which will take place in and around downtown Wichita October 22-25, include Warren Theaters, Emily Bonavia Trust, Integrated Media Group, Clear Channel Radio/Wichita, City of Wichita, Stella Artois, House of Schwan, Glacier, Spangenberg Phillips Architecture, Greater Wichita Convention and Visitors Bureau, Wichita Downtown Development Corporation, National Endowment for the Arts, Kansas Film Commission, The Orpheum Theatre, KMUW, KPTS, Naked City, Wichita Magazine, Ulrich Museum of Art and Liberty Press.