A writer and filmmaker from Alaska is bringing her documentary, The Wisdom of the Grandmothers, to Rapid City later this week.
Susan Stark Christianson developed the film from interviews she gathered for a book, published in 2010. The documentary first aired on public television in Alaska on Mother's Day.
Now Christianson is traveling around the United States, screening the film. She says her message is that there will not be peace on Earth until the voices of grandmothers are heard.
"People are really hungering for the connection between the grandmothers and the younger generation," Christianson says. "You know, in so many communities now, and in the media, grandmothers are invisible. We're not treating our elder women with the respect that we deserve, and so people are missing that in their lives."
Christianson says generations of women attend the film, along with men and boys.
The documentary is 53 minutes long and is playing at the Agape Spiritual Center, "On Common Ground," at 610 St. Francis Street on Thursday, Nov. 19. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the film starts at 7 p.m.
