Our Back To School Edition
With RESILIENCE and Play!

RESILIENCE on Video On Demand

RESILIENCE is now available for streaming directly to individual viewers on Apple TV, Google Play and Vudu. Since its premiere in 2016 at the Sundance Film festival, RESILIENCE has been screened globally, in educational settings, more than 50,000 times. In partnership with many educational, health care, juvenile justice and non-profit organizations, RESILIENCE and Paper Tigers has increased the awareness of childhood trauma and also the factors that build resilience and mitigate toxic stress. RESILIENCE remains a relevant educational tool and KPJR Films is excited to make it fully accessible to all audiences by placing it on video on demand.

You can order it for individual viewing here:

Apple TV https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/resilience/umc.cmc.68dxxabbbm5ejy4mlrb5gzxi6
Vudu
https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/details/Resilience/1845918
Google Play
https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/Resilience?id=AJuVg5Fe3_Q.P

RESILIENCE will continue to be available for educational licensing through:

Roco Films (Globally except for the UK)
https://www.rocoeducational.com/resilience
Dartmouth Films (UK)
https://www.dartmouthfilms.com/resilience

Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir
Emmy Nominations

American Masters picked up two nominations for the 73^rd Emmy Awards. The series itself, which included Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir, was nominated for “Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series.”

As well, Kathryn Bostic was nominated as composer of American Masters — Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir in the category of “Outstanding Music Composition for Documentary Series or Special (Original Dramatic Score).”

“I am really honored to be nominated by my peers for my work on Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir. This was a really special project for me for many reasons. I set out to capture Amy’s spirit, courage, and resilience in creating the score for her remarkable story. I am so grateful to the director, the late James Redford, and the entire production team for entrusting me with helping to tell that story with my music, and for being the most gracious and wonderful collaborators.” - Kathryn Bostic

Winners will be announced at a ceremony on Sunday, September 19, 2021 on CBS.

Tune In Here

Celebrating Creative Excellence
Composer/Singer/Songwriter

Kathryn Bostic

Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir composer and singer/songwriter Kathryn Bostic is known for her original work on film, TV, theater and symphonic music. Emmy nominated for her score in the award winning films “Amy Tan:Unintended Memoir” and “Toni Morrison- The Pieces I am,” she is a recipient of many fellowships and awards including the prestigious Sundance Time Warner Fellowship, Sundance Fellowship for Feature Film Scoring, Sundance/Skywalker Documentary Film Scoring, African American Film Critics Award for Best Music in Film, BMI Conducting Fellowship and Society of Composers and Lyricists “Outstanding Music for Independent Feature Film.”

Kathryn was the Vice President of the Alliance for Women Film Composers from 2016-2018. A member of the Television Academy of Arts and Sciences, in 2016 she became the first female African American score composer in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

KPJR Book Club
September Featured Author: Rodney Walker

The KPJR Book Club featured author for September will be Rodney Walker, author of “Wounds You Can Not See,” “A New Day One” and well known for his work in trauma-informed education. His award-winning keynote The Power of Resilience: From 12 Foster Homes to Harvard Universityhas received acclamation by school districts across the nation. A Chicago native, he has a BA degree from Morehouse Collage and graduate degrees from Harvard and Yale University.

Given the obstacles placed before him as a foster child, Rodney struggled academically and socially in school. In his early years of elementary school, he was diagnosed with autism, placed in special education, repeated the fourth grade due to poor academic performance, and finished his freshman of high school with a sub-1.5 GPA. After joining a youth mentoring program in his senior year of high school, Rodney was able to deal with life struggles that had restrained him. During this period, he also joined the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), a youth entrepreneurship program for high school students. With the support and guidance of NFTE and committed mentors, Rodney competed and won various business plan competitions. It was here that Rodney became motivated and inspired to start his first business. Rodney travels both nationally and internationally, speaking at public schools, corporations, and conferences about the importance of trauma-informed education, entrepreneurship education, mentoring at-risk youth, and corporate philanthropy for non-profit organizations aimed to uplift and support at-risk youth. He has been a speaker at TEDxYale, served as a keynote speaker in Monaco, France for Ernst &Young, and has delivered a Keynote at the White House on the importance of financial literacy for urban youth. Portions of his story have appeared on PBS’s American Graduate Day, in the national education documentary Ten9Eight: Shoot for the Moon, and in It’s Your World: Get Informed, Get Inspired and Get Going by Chelsea Clinton.

In an effort to address the epidemic of violence and social failure among at-risk youth in Chicago, Walker partnered with former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to create a comprehensive employment pipeline program for disconnected youth across the city. Since earning his MA in Education from Harvard University, he has continued his career as a nationally-renowned youth speaker, thought leader, social-emotional learning expert, and ambassador for change. He delivers various SEL education programs, professional development, inspirational keynotes, and student workshops.

For this 2021 KPJR Films Book Club event, Walker will discuss his books with Teri Barila and Rick Griffin of Community Resilience Initiative (CRI). The discussion will be recorded and shared online. Should you have any questions for Rodney Walker, please forward them to Lynn@KPJRFilms.co before September 13, 2021.

Partner Spotlight

Returning To School With a Trauma-Informed Approach: David Johnson

This fall the return to the classroom after nearly two abnormal years in the wake of the pandemic and social justice issues will present new stresses for students, families and educators. To help students, families and educators, many states across the country have mandated that trauma-informed curriculum and practices be added, leaving many schools scrambling to deploy ESSER funds and other grants to implement these programs while they offer an array of student engagement strategies and address learning loss.

David Johnson’s Miss Kendra Programs featured in the film, Resilience: The Biology of Stress and the Science of Hope is one of the nation’s top programs that fully integrate SEL and trauma-informed practices into the curriculum. We asked Dr. Johnson, Ph.D., co-founder of Miss Kendra Programs, to answer three frequently asked questions:

1) What is a trauma-informed school?
2) Why are we focused on trauma-informed practices?
3) What is the best way to get started with trauma-informed practices?

Prevent Child Abuse America Previews Playing for Keeps

Prevent Child Abuse America screened a clip from Playing for Keeps and hosted a self-care segment at their national conference in August. The self-care segment included Carolina Cardenas, hoola hoop artist, oncology nurse and featured character in Playing for Keeps in a Q&A segment and a special Playing for Keeps Hoola Hoop tutorial.

This year, Prevent Child Abuse America will also produce a virtual screening of Playing for Keeps followed by a discussion on the benefits of living a playful, joyful life with national experts along with characters from the film. Stay tuned for details or email lynn@KPJRFilms.co