Marisa Tomei has played some scene-stealing females in her career. (Btw, thanks for still showing love to My Cousin Vinny, TBS. Very funny indeed.) But now, the Academy Award-winning actress is making her directorial debut with a powerful short film called Woineshet, about a young woman who fought back against bride abduction in Ethiopia. The story comes from Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s best-selling book and global women’s rights movement Half The Sky.
“Of course I was familiar with Nick’s column in the [New York] Times, wondering for about a year now, who is this person? Who is the person daring to keep putting front and center, week after week, the rights of women and girls,” Tomei told guests at CARE’s “Half The Sky Live” event last Thursday evening at NYU’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts.
Tomei — who co-directed with Lisa Leone — said she was more than thrilled when, out of the blue, she got a call about a film series being made based on Kristof and WuDunn’s book. “They were looking for directors, and someone else had gotten the swine flu, and therefore could I leave for Ethiopia in three days? (Pause) I happened to be free,” she shrugged with a laugh.
Woineshet tells the story of Woineshet Zebene Negash, who was kidnapped and raped in March 2001, when she was only 13 years old. Her attacker was arrested, then set free on bail in, essentially, no time. After attacking her again, he tried to force her to marry him, since Ethiopian law at the time said that a man could not be prosecuted for violating a woman (or girl) he later married. But Woineshet refused to go along with it, and, with the help of her family, decided to bring her attacker to justice.
Fast forward nine years, and Woineshet’s case is still not settled. But her dedication to sharing her story helped overturn the age-old Ethiopian law, and she has inspired Ethiopian women to stand up for their rights. “She is the perfect example of courage, and resilience, and perseverance,” Tomei said on stage after the screening. Now a law student, Woineshet — who flew to New York City for the event — and her story illustrate the mission of Half The Sky and CARE. The film will be shown for one night only in theaters across the US and Canada on March 4th. Click here to find a participating theater near you.
“One of the points we particularly want to emphasize is that the plight of women around the world isn’t so much a tragedy as is an opportunity,” Kristof said kicking off the event that included performances by India Arie and Diane Birch, as well as an appearance by Sarah, Duchess of York.
“We need to think of women and girls not as the problem, but as the solution. To invest in girls’ education, and bring educated women into the workforce. Then, it’s not just women who benefit, but it’s society and men, as well. Women really can hold up half the sky, as the Chinese proverb says,” he said.
Photo by David Shankbone via Wikimedia Commons.