MEDIA RELEASE Award-winning documentary

MEDIA RELEASE
For immediate release | Thursday April 16, 2015
Award-winning documentary to screen alongside Walking With Our Sisters exhibit
WHITEHORSE – The award-winning documentary, Highway of Tears, which looks into the missing
and murdered women along a 724 kilometer stretch of highway in northern British Columbia, will be
presented this month by Yukon College, Yukon Employees Union, Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre,
Yukon Arts Centre, and Yukon Film Society, in support of the Walking With Our Sisters
commemorative exhibit this month.
This award-winning film by Matt Smiley premiered in March 2014 at the TIFF Human Rights Watch
Film Festival and has played to sold-out theatres across Canada and the United States. As the
phenomenon of missing and murdered aboriginal women has been thrown into the spotlight there is
renewed interest in the film with over 40 screenings in Canada, the United States and Europe,
planned in the next month.
Narrated by Canadian-born actor Nathan Fillion (Castle, Firefly), this hard-hitting documentary relates
the personal stories of the victims, and investigates how the legacy of generational poverty, high
unemployment and endemic violence in their communities contributed to their tragic fates — and how
contemporary First Nations leaders are striving to cure those ills.
Highway of Tears will screen three times at the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre in Whitehorse on April
22 and 23, with admission by donation. There will be a Q&A with director Matt Smiley after each
screening.
“The issue of missing and murdered women, largely neglected by the Canadian government and
general public, is now being pushed into the forefront of public discussion, as families of the over
1,200 missing and murdered women are looking for answers, action and justice,” said Smiley.
“Far too many cases have been neglected and proper investigations need to carry through for
countless families to have closure. It's also an important social discussion that needs to be had in
order to protect all Canadian women from violence.”
-30-
!
For more information, contact:
Michael Vernon
Communications Coordinator
College Relations
Yukon College
867.668.8786
867.332.4722
mvernon@yukoncollege.yk.ca
!
Matthew Smiley
Director
℅ Nathalie PR
424-262-1651
matt@finessefilms.com
!
500 College Drive
Whitehorse, Yukon
Y1A 5K4 Canada
t 867.668.8800
toll free 1.800.661.0504
f 867.668.8723
!
yukoncollege.yk.ca
MEDIA RELEASE
!
Screening times:
April 22, 2015 @ 7:30 pm, doors open @ 6:30 pm
April 23, 2015 @ 1:30 pm, doors open @ 1:00 pm
April 23, 2015 @ 7:30 pm, doors open @ 6:30 pm
Highway of Tears won best documentary at the 2014 Malibu International Film Festival, and best of
the festival at the 2014 Zonta Film Festival and Vancouver Women in Film and Television Festival.
More information on the film can be found at www.highwayoftearsfilm.com.
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
500 College Drive
Whitehorse, Yukon
Y1A 5K4 Canada
t 867.668.8800
toll free 1.800.661.0504
f 867.668.8723
!
yukoncollege.yk.ca