THOUSAND OAKS, CA - A movie about girls throughout the world who have overcome great difficulties will be shown at California Lutheran University to mark International Day of the Girl.

“Girl Rising” will be screened at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10, in Lundring Events Center. A short presentation by Kiera Murphy, a CLU senior and U.S. representative for VOICE 4 Girls, will follow. VOICE 4 Girls was launched in India in 2011 to address the educational and employment challenges facing girls from low-income communities. The free CLU event, which will conclude with a discussion, commemorates the United Nation’s International Day of the Girl, which is Oct. 11.

Academy Award-nominated director Richard E. Robbins wanted to showcase the strength of the human spirit and the power of education in “Girl Rising.” Released in March, the PG-13 movie spotlights nine girls from nine countries in stories penned by nine renowned writers from the girls’ countries. Nine well-known actresses narrate the stories.

Real girls play themselves in slightly fictionalized accounts of stories from their own lives. Sokha is an orphan who rises from life in a garbage dump in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to become a star student and accomplished dancer. Suma writes songs that help her endure forced servitude in Nepal and today crusades to free others. Ruksana is an Indian “pavement-dweller” whose father sacrifices his own basic needs for his daughter’s dreams.

Education can break the cycle of poverty, but girls around the world face barriers to schooling that boys do not. There are 33 million fewer girls than boys in primary school, according to Education First.

The film is the centerpiece of a global campaign by 10x10 to educate and empower girls to transform communities. Founded by journalists at The Documentary Group and Vulcan Productions, 10x10 is working with corporations, policymakers and grassroots organizations to remove barriers to girls’ education including forced marriages, domestic slavery and sex trafficking.

CLU’s Gender & Women’s Studies Program and the Thousand Oaks branch of the American Association of University Women are presenting the free screening.

Lundring Events Center is located in the Gilbert Sports and Fitness Center, which is north of Olsen Road near Mountclef Boulevard on the Thousand Oaks campus.

For more information, contact Peter Carlson at pcarlson@callutheran.edu or 805-493-3435.