Reminder: This Thursday @ CNU

By: Natasha

A movie about love, revolution and betrayal in Sri Lanka, titled No More Tears Sister, will be featured at the first film screening of 2009 hosted by the CNU Women’s Film Festival. This event is free and open to the public through the PBS documentary series POV. The film, with introduction by Professor Linda Waldron of the CNU Department of Sociology, will take place on February 5, 2009 at 7:00 p.m., in Christopher Newport University’s Music and Theatre Hall at the Ferguson Center for the Arts. No More Tears Sister is the first of three films during the Spring Semester presented by Women’s Studies and the CNU Film program. For more information, please see the website at http://english.cnu.edu/wgfilm.html.


No More Tears Sister, a documentary written by Helene Klodawsky, explores the price of truth in times of war. Set during the violent ethnic conflict that has enveloped Sri Lanka for decades, the film recreates the courageous and vibrant life of renowned human rights activist Dr. Rajani Thiranagama. If love is the first inspiration of a social revolutionary, as has sometimes been said, no one better exemplified that idea than Dr. Rajani Thiranagama.

Love for her people and her newly independent nation, and empathy for the oppressed of Sri Lanka — including women and the poor — led her to risk her middle-class life to join the struggle for equality and justice for all. Love led her to marry across ethnic and class lines. In the face of a brutal government crackdown on her Tamil people, love led her to help the guerrilla Tamil Tigers, the only force seemingly able to defend the people. When she realized the Tigers were more a murderous gang than a revolutionary force, she broke with them, publicly and dangerously.

This film will be introduced by Dr. Linda Waldron, a professor of CNU’s Department of Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology. After the film, she will lead a discussion. Audience members are invited to participate. The Women’s Film Festival is sponsored by CNU and the award-winning documentary series, POV (Point of View). For more information, please contact Professor Rosenberg at rrosenb@cnu.edu.