Journeys in Film announces a new partnership with Indie Lens Pop-Up for the film Matter of Mind: My Parkinson’s.

Journeys in Film is proud to partner with Indie Lens Pop-Up to create a Discussion Guide for Matter of Mind: My Parkinson’s. This project involved working with the filmmakers, film subjects, and medical experts to create the guide that will be used at Indie Lens Pop-Up events around the country for Matter of Mind: My Parkinson’s. 

Matter of Mind: My Parkinson’s is a documentary film featuring poignant stories of individuals managing symptoms and treatments related to Parkinson’s. Importantly, the film highlights fulfilling lives these individuals live during their journey. Additionally, each tale is one of determination. Through ingenuity and adaptation, the audience gains insight into what it means to live with a degenerative illness.

From award-winning co-directors Anna Moot-Levin and Laura Green (The Providers), this intimate documentary keys in on three individuals—a political cartoonist, a mother turned boxing coach, and an optician—as they navigate their lives with resourcefulness and determination in the face of Parkinson’s disease. The film is part of Indie Lens Pop-up, a program of ITVS. Matter of Mind: My Parkinson’s premieres on PBS on April 8th. Check your local listings for broadcast times or watch on the PBS App beginning April 8th. Learn more about the film from: PBS Independent Lens: Matter of Mind: My Parkinsons’s. 

To participate and sign-up to become a screening partner for this poignant documentary film, visit Matter of Mind: My Parkinson’s and Indie Lens Pop-Up.

About Indie Lens Pop-Up

Indie Lens Pop-Up is a community series that brings people together for film screenings and conversations. Featuring documentaries seen on PBS’s INDEPENDENT LENS, Indie Lens Pop-Up draws local residents, leaders, and organizations to discuss what matters most. Learn more about this unique program: PBS Indie Lens Pop-Up. 

About Independent Lens

INDEPENDENT LENS is an Emmy® Award-winning PBS documentary series. With founding executive producer Lois Vossen, the series has been honored with 10 Academy Award nominations and features documentaries united by the creative freedom, artistic achievement, and unflinching visions of independent filmmakers. Presented by ITVS, INDEPENDENT LENS is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Acton Family Giving, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, Wyncote Foundation, and National Endowment for the Arts. Stream anytime on the PBS App. For more information visit PBS Independent Lens.

About Journeys in Film

Journeys in Film believes in the storytelling power of film to educate the most visually literate generation in history. Since 2003, Journeys in Film has been pioneering the use of film for interdisciplinary lessons in the classroom. We also develop discussion guides for films for powerful films designed to work in multiple settings, such as classroom discussions, after-school clubs, community screenings, college classes, adult education and more. All of the Journeys in Film educational resources are cost-free. Learn more about partnering with Journeys in Film.

Big Sonia is now available on PBS for the next three years! This makes the film even more accessible for your classroom use. Our free curriculum guide for the film features 5 lessons. These include an introduction to the Holocaust, an oral history assignment and more. This incredible film is 96 years in the making. It’s a film you don’t want your students to miss.

Certainly, Sonia’s enormous personality masks the horrors she endured. At 15 she watched her mother disappear behind gas chamber doors. Additionally, Sonia’s teenage years were a blur of concentration camps and death marches.  On liberation day, she was accidentally shot through the chest, yet again miraculously survived. Thus, Sonia is the ultimate survivor. She is also a bridge between cultures and generations.

Her story must never be forgotten.

Filmmakers Leah Warshawski and Todd Soliday spent over 12 years creating this loving and thought-provoking portrait. Clearly, they persevered against some of modern history’s most jaw-dropping events. Such events include: the election of president who had never held office, the storming of the US Capitol, and now the invasion of a sovereign nation. Altogether, we see that Sonia’s story is more relevant than ever.

Watch the Film on PBS

 

BIG SONIA Theatrical Trailer from Inflatable Film on Vimeo.

Through PBS, the film is currently available to 80% of U.S. markets. You can access the full broadcast schedule here. Critics praise the film. Students connect with the film because Sonia was their age during the Holocaust.

“Engaging and thoughtful…An unforgettable woman refuses to forget in this thoughtful exploration of history’s fallout.”

“Sonia is a powerful subject.”

Big Sonia’s Story Empowers Student Learning

BIG SONIA interweaves Sonia’s past and present using first-person narrative with stories from family and friends. Along the way, we learn valuable life lessons – “Soniaisms” – from a woman who can barely see over the steering wheel, yet insists on driving herself to work every day to run her late husband’s tailor shop, John’s Tailoring. Her influence spans generations and cultures, and we see first-hand how she transforms a room of self-involved teenagers into thoughtful citizens.

You can read an interview that our Director of Programs and Outreach did with filmmaker Leah Warshawski on Video Librarian.