Episode #203: Shelter

This film probes an enormously critical topic…
-Lucius Ellsworth, President, Appalachian School of Law

“I think it was an eye-opening video that everyone should see.” – Male student, University of Utah

Synopsis: Shelter tells the story of five rural women, victims of domestic violence, who try to find freedom, justice and safety for themselves and their children.

Full Description: In 1974, three women opened the first shelter for battered women, in St. Paul, Minnesota. From this courageous act emerged a grassroots movement that has not only saved lives, it has changed the way Americans think about domestic violence. By 1985, a mere decade later, there were 700 shelters and safe houses, growing to approximately 1,200 today. Shelter traces this remarkable evolution and gives voice to five women seeking protection in a rural West Virginia shelter. Working with advice and guidance from the shelter’s counselors and staff, the women struggle to find safety, freedom, and justice for themselves and their children. Two founders of the shelter movement discuss its history while Tillie Black Bear from the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota describes establishing the first shelter for women of color. Shelter challenges our national ambivalence towards issues of domestic violence and common institutional responses from police, the court system, and social service agencies, while highlighting a model program that offers a holistic and healing approach to the problem.

A co-production of Appalshop with West Virginia Public Television in association with the Independent Television Service (ITVS), with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional funding from the KET Fund For Independent Production, Kentucky Arts Council, Paul Robeson Fund for Independent Media/Funding Exchange, Commission on Religion in Appalachia, Kentucky Foundation for Women.

Log On to www.familyrefugecenter.com to find resources on domestic violence and to learn more about the Family Refuge Center featured in this program.

Producer – Anne Lewis: Director of Appalshop’s Headwaters Television project since 1982, Anne Lewis has also produced many of the programs in the first and second series. A recipient of a Rockefeller Foundation Film/Video/Multimedia Fellowship, Anne’s 1989 documentary On Our Own Land received the duPont-Columbia Award for Independent Broadcast Journalism. Prior to joining Appalshop, Anne was Associate Director of Harlan County, U.S.A.

Screening Highlights ** New Jersey International Film Festival * Philadelphia International Film Festival * West Virginia Filmmakers’ Festival * Appalachian Studies Conference

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Advocate reads to a child at the Lewisburg, WV Family Refuge Center

After a stay at the Family Refuge Center, Kathleen and her children now live on their own

 Photos for press and private use. All rights reserved.