Biblioburro: The Donkey Library Film Showing

Mount Laurel Library will show the documentary Biblioburro: The Donkey Library describes Luis Soriano’s efforts to bring books to poor children in Columbia by way of two donkeys on Friday, September 14 at 2 p.m. The public is invited to this admission-free event.  No registration is required.

Carlos Rendón Zipagauta’s documentary, Biblioburro: The Donkey Library, tells the story of 39-year-old Soriano and his traveling library from the point of view of the man himself and, one might say, his two hardworking burros. The film rides along with Soriano on one of his arduous weekend rounds and discovers a world of dense tropical beauty, nearly impassible trails, dangers both natural (snakes, swollen streams) and human (guerillas, bandits), open-air classrooms and, most wonderfully, a thirst for reading and knowledge. But Biblioburro is also a portrait of Soriano — an unassuming, small-town elementary school teacher who not only had a great idea, but has been acting on it every weekend for over a decade.

“I thought this would be a magnificent story to tell, for what it says about human goodness and inventiveness and for what it reveals about the dignity of the Colombian people, especially the poorest among them.”  — Carlos Rendón Zipagauta, Filmmaker

This event is a collaboration with POV, the award-winning independent non-fiction film series on PBS www.pbs.org/pov  (60 minutes). 

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A Walk to Beautiful: Film & Discussion

Mount Laurel, February 27, 2012:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Mount Laurel Library will show the award winning feature-length documentary A Walk to Beautiful on Saturday, March 31 at 2 p.m. followed by a discussion led by Jeffrey M Smith, MD, MPH. The public is invited to this admission-free event. No registration is required.

A Walk to Beautiful tells the stories of five Ethiopian women who suffer from devastating childbirth injuries and embark on a journey to reclaim their lost dignity. Rejected by their husbands and ostracized by their communities, these women are left to spend the rest of their lives in loneliness and shame. They make the choice to take the long and arduous journey to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in search of a cure and a new life.

Join us for the film with an introduction and a Q&A provided by Jeffrey M Smith, MD, MPH, an expert on the subject of care for women in pregnancy in third world countries.

Mount Laurel Library is located at 100 Walt Whitman Avenue in Mount Laurel (next to the post office). For additional information about this event, call 856-234-7319, ext. 333.

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