By now, I’m sure many of you have heard of “The Bully Project“. If you haven’t, then keep reading… This is important.
Over 13 million American kids will be bullied this year, making it the most common form of violence experienced by young people in the nation. The documentary film BULLY, directed by Sundance and Emmy-award winning filmmaker, Lee Hirsch, brings human scale to this startling statistic, offering an intimate, unflinching look at how bullying has touched five kids and their families.
Filmed over the course of the 2009/2010 school year, BULLY opens a window onto the pained and often endangered lives of bullied kids, revealing a problem that transcends geographic, racial, ethnic and economic borders. It documents the responses of teachers and administrators to aggressive behaviors that defy “kids will be kids” clichés, and it captures a growing movement among parents and youths to change how bullying is handled in schools, in communities and in society as a whole.
Parents play a vital role in supporting their kids, promoting upstander rather than bystander behavior, and teaching and modeling empathy in the home.
While in Bentonville with the WalmartMoms, we met with Lee Hirsch, the director of the movie BULLY. We learned about his passion behind the movie, and just how big this movement has grown. He was there to host a screening at a local high school, and it just happened to be good timing that he was able to meet with us.
The movie has taken on a new life as it’s being used to educate and empower children and adults with the knowledge to prevent and even fight back against bullying. It’s being screened in many schools and churches across the nation, and it’s transforming kids’ lives and changing a culture of bullying into one of empathy and action.
If you’d like to take a stand in your local area, and host a screening or other type of event, check out the Bully Project site, and learn more about their tool kits! Their goal was originally to reach 1 million kids, but they have since surpassed that and set a new goal of reaching 10 million kids. Be a part of the big picture and help bring an end to bullying!
If you just want the movie, you can get the BULLY movie BluRay & DVD from Walmart.com!
