A Saskatchewan group that created a film about family violence wanted to do more than make people feel sorry for abused women.
So the focus of the film and an accompanying guide is how to escape violent families.
Shirley Penner, one of the women survivors featured in the film, told the official launch of How Then Shall We Live, that the key word of the film is hope.
“The hope to survive, the hope that more women get out of this situation. For seven years I’ve been out of the situation. I know how happy life can be.”
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Rural women are one of the groups covered in the film. It advises women who want to leave an abusive spouse to plan for it. Move bank accounts, have a telephone calling card and pack essential financial and personal papers for you and your children. For a woman who feels safe enough staying in her home, a complaint to police and a court order can require the offender to leave under Saskatchewan’s Domestic Violence Act. Not all provinces have such a law.
The film advises women to write down the reasons they left so that later they can read it and realize they didn’t exaggerate the problem.
Producer Susan Risk of Regina said she spent a year working with the group on the film and then interviewing the women and one man.
“Violence is everywhere so there’s a lot to do,” said Risk. “No matter what our line of work we can make life more thoughtful, gentle and caring.”
The $75,000 video, made with federal and provincial money, will be distributed through the STOPS to Violence group, Box 4481, Regina, S4P 3W7. The Saskatchewan Women’s Institutes will also have copies. The video will be shown several times in the next five years on the Saskatchewan Communications Network, a provincial government TV channel.
