For Immediate Release -

Screening of: "Period: The End of Menstruation?"
Directed by Giovanna Chesler
2006, 54 minutes
Featured During Portland Community College's Art Beat May 7th-11th
Thursday, May 10th 2007
Time: 1pm - 2:30pm with Q&A after the film

Description:

As millions of women and girls take shots and pills to stop their
periods, the meaning of menstruation changes. Current marketing of
hormonal birth control (Depo-Provera, Seasonale, Seasonique, Lybrel,
Anya) attracts customers by promising freedom from monthly periods.
For many consumers, menstrual suppression eliminates painful monthly
flow, giving them more control in their lives. For others, menstrual
suppression represents a frightening shift in thinking about the human
body and another dangerous experiment on woman's health. Period: The
End of Menstruation? interrogates the cultural and medical side
effects of suppression before 'the curse' disappears.

For more information about "Period: the End of Menstruation?" and to
read the latest in the April 2th New York Times interview go to the
film website:
http://www.periodthemovie.com/ABOUT.html

For more information about Art Beat go to: http://www.artbeat.com

*** cinema guild writes***
Seasonale. Depo-Provera. Lybrel. As pharmaceutical companies develop
new drugs that allow women to stop their periods for months and years
at a time, Period: The End of Menstruation? investigates the social,
cultural and medical implications of this increasingly popular new
trend.

This timely and necessary documentary interviews physicians, health
practitioners, cultural critics, and a variety of women from around
the country who fall on both sides of the menstrual suppression
debate: from those who maintain that technology should make
menstruation virtually obsolete to those who see menstruation as
defining the essence of being female.

Raising important questions about feminism, sexuality, gender and the
body, the film opens up a discussion that challenges essentialist
viewpoints around what is 'natural' and 'normal' and what it means to
bleed. Period: The End of Menstruation? draws attention to a pressing
health issue that affects millions of women on a global scale.

you may contact me directly with any questions.

--
Kim Manchester
Instructor, Photography
Dept. of Visual and Performing Arts and Design
PCC, Sylvania Campus
ph: 503-977-8025
email: kim.manchester@pcc.edu