PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The University of Maine at Presque Isle will present its next Salmagundi Film Series screening on Tuesday, April 23, at 6 p.m. in the Campus Center Multi-Purpose Room. In conjunction with the Aroostook County Action Program and the Aroostook Community Collaborative, and in honor of National Child Abuse Prevention Month in April, the series will feature “Paper Tigers.”
This 2015 documentary film follows a year in the life of an alternative school that radically changes its approach to disciplining students and becomes a promising model for how to break the cycles of poverty, violence, and disease that affect families. All are invited to attend this film screening.
This semester, the Salmagundi Film Series will feature a “dinner and a movie” option. Attendees will be able to purchase an all-you-can-eat buffet dinner in Kelley Commons for a reduced fee of $9.50 and can bring their meal in to the MPR to eat while they watch the film.
“Paper Tigers” is set within and around the campus of Lincoln Alternative High School in the rural community of Walla Walla, Washington, and takes root around the research that has been done about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). According to the ACEs research, the more traumatic experiences a person has as a child, such as physical and emotional abuse and neglect, the more likely they are to develop health problems later in life, such as cancer, heart disease, and high blood pressure. There are also correlations between ACEs and the prevalence of drug and alcohol abuse, unprotected sex, and poor diet. The research shows the price children are paying for growing up in unsafe environments, all while adding fuel to the fire of some of society’s greatest challenges.
The film asks the following questions: What does it mean to be a trauma-informed school? And how do you educate teens whose childhood experiences have left them with a brain and body ill-suited to learn?
In search of clear and honest answers, “Paper Tigers” hinges on a remarkable collaboration between subject and filmmaker. Armed with their own cameras and their own voices, the teens offer raw but valuable insight into the hearts and minds of teens pushing back against the specter of a hard childhood.
Directed by James Redford, this film is 1 hour and 42 minutes long and is not rated. A discussion following this film will be led by representatives from ACAP and the Aroostook Community Collaborative.
Established in Fall 2018, UMPI’s Salmagundi Film Series focuses on a new film each month followed by a conversation about the subject matter. The series is held on the second Tuesday of the month, unless otherwise noted, and was created to show a wide range of films and to provide an opportunity for people to discuss their thoughts on the film. Loosely translated, Salmagundi means “a little bit of everything” and it was the name of UMPI’s school newspaper back in 1909. Partial funding for this film series presentation is proudly supported by the UMPI Library.
To learn more, visit the official film website at https://kpjrfilms.co/paper-tigers/. For more information about this screening, contact Gayla Shaw at 207-768-9452 or email umpi@maine.edu.
Submitted by the Community and Media Relations Office of the University of Maine at Presque Isle.
