INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY BROADCASTS FOR 'WHY WOMEN COUNT'

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY BROADCASTS FOR ‘WHY WOMEN COUNT’

Friday March 7th: To mark International Women’s Day 2008, television channels in Brazil, Bosnia and Lithuania will broadcast films from the groundbreaking ‘Why Women Count’ series on March 8^th.

In Brazil, Sao Paolo-based TV Cultura starts weekly transmission of the series in the prime-time, 8.30 pm slot, from March 8^th, with a presenter introducing four of the ‘Why Women Count’ series every Saturday night. In Bosnia & Herzegovina, National TV channel BHT1 is broadcasting one film from the series every week in its weekly foreign affairs magazine GLOBAL transmitted on Sunday nights. And in Lithuania, LVT 2 - national TV’s second terrestrial and satellite channel - will broadcast a special 10-film compilation for International Women’s Day, including films from Rwanda, Lebanon, India, Bangladesh, Brazil, Spain, France, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Macedonia and Lithuania.

Other ‘Why Women Count’ screenings scheduled in March include broadcast of the Macedonian film, ‘Biljana from Alcatraz’ on Austrian state television, ORF, on March 5^th; the 18th International Film Festival held by the University of the Philippines Film Institute - ‘Wandering, Wondering, Wonderful Women’ -  focusing specifically on women migrants and overseas Filipino workers, from 10^th – 13^th March 2008; and the India launch of the series, hosted by DFID at the British Council in New Delhi, on Tuesday March 18^th.

Coordinated by TVE, the 41 short films in the Why Women Count series were made in 41 countries around the world by the members of the global ‘Broadcasting for Change Network’ - a unique group of international broadcasters and producers committed to producing and airing programmes on women's rights and equality worldwide. The series focuses on women's empowerment and its role in the political, economic and social development of countries, communities and families.  Broadcasts of the series have already taken place in Austria, Bolivia, China, Macedonia, Mexico, Nepal, Thailand, Uganda, Trinidad & Togabo and Zimbabwe.  

The Lebanese film in the series, ‘In the Eye of the Storm’, directed by Mai Masri, won an honourable mention at the prestigious IAWRT awards in September 2007. Further broadcasts and launch events are planned for the summer of 2008.

The Why Women Count series is available on Beta, VHS and DVD compilation tapes from TVE for non-broadcast use. Through TVE, the Series is available in Spanish and English.

For more information about the launch and series visit the website www.tve.org/whywomencount

Why Women Count was made possible with the generous help of: The Sigrid Rausing Trust, the Global Opportunities Fund - FCO, Al Jazeera English, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), UNIFEM, the British Council, and Ascent Media.