Event

Filmmaker and eco-activist Shalini Kantayya will present her award-winning sci-fi short film about the global water crisis, A Drop of Life, and discuss the borderless global water crisis’ unique impact on women all over the world. A Drop of Life was used as a tool to organize for water rights in 40 villages across Africa—making a real-world impact in the lives of thousands. Food, refreshments and an opportunity to directly engage with environmentalist groups confronting these issues will be made available.

Kantayya’s production company 7th Empire Media works to create a culture of human rights and sustainability through imaginative media. She most recently directed Breakthrough for National Geographic: a series profiling trailblazing scientists who will transform our future (airing Spring 2017, with Executive Produced by Ron Howard). Her latest film is Catching the Sun, a feature documentary that explores the race for the clean energy future through the stories of solar entrepreneurs in the U.S. and China. Kantayya is a Sundance Fellow, and a TED Fellow. She was also a finalist for the ABC/Disney Directing Program. A William D. Fulbright Scholar, she has lectured at Princeton, Yale, Stanford, USC, among others. She has received recognition from the Sundance Documentary Program, IFP Spotlight on Documentary, New York Women in Film and Television, and the Jerome Hill Centennial.

Dr. Wendy Grube will introduce Shalini. Dr. Grube is the Interim Director for the Center for Global Women’s Health and the Director for Women’s Health/Gender-Related Nurse Practitioner Program at the UPENN School of Nursing.

This event is sponsored by: South Asia Center, Middle East Center, Grad Center and Family Center, Asian American Studies Program, Department for Earth and Environmental Science, SP2, Penn Program in Environmental Humanities, The Center for Global Women’s Health, Center for East Asian Studies, Penn Culture Films, Global Philadelphia Association, Global Water Alliance, Penn School of Nursing, Penn Center for Women's Behavioral Wellness, Penn PROMOTES Research on Sex and Gender in Health, Intl Refugee Assistance Project, Intl Human Rights Advocates, Institute for Global Environmental Leadership (IGEL), Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI), Center for Africana Studies Penn Women's Center, United Nations Association of Greater Philadelphia and Penn Sustainability.