Defending Our Lives

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This record is featured in “Exploring Public Media in the Peabody Awards Collection.” This record is featured in “Peabody Awards Collection.”
Program
Defending Our Lives
Producing Organization
Cambridge Documentary Films
WTTW (Television station : Chicago, Ill.)
Contributing Organization
The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia (Athens, Georgia)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip-526-6688g8gj1q
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Description
Program Description
"'Defending Our Lives,' a 30-minute documentary exploring the magnitude and severity of domestic violence in this country, features the terrifying personal testimonies of women imprisoned for killing their batterers in self-defense. The film won an Academy Award in 1994. 'Defending Our Lives' has aired on public and commercial television, where it received strong ratings, overwhelming audience response, and was singled out by several station programmers as the most powerful, moving, and informative piece on their schedule. The film has also been widely distributed to the educational market, including schools, universities, libraries, hospitals, and community organizations. 'Defending Our Lives' is an example of how we can maximize the educational and social potential of media. The film has been screened at the White House, the U.S. Senate and House, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Attorneys General's offices, state legislatures, police academies, battered women's service agencies, religious organizations, and agencies working for social change. As filmmakers working toward education and social change for the past twenty years, we believe that our job entails more than making documentaries. Education and meaningful change do not simply proceed through the television screen. With all our projects, we work to promote what we call 'active viewing' through our extensive distribution system. We have successfully pursued television broadcast of our programs. But when a program such as this one airs solely on television, it is a one-shot process, an hour or so worth of programming that is usually consumed in an individual setting, without a forum for analysis, discussion, interaction and response. The viewer watches passively, and we don't believe real learning and lasting attitudinal change occurs. By reaching out to educators and grassroots organizations, and by providing a study guide to accompany the film, we promote active viewing. Our films are used in facilitated settings, and viewers are encouraged to respond, to think, to write --- to reconstitute what they have seen and to communicate their ideas on controversial topics. In this way, our films inspire audiences to think and act on important social issues. Through ongoing distribution to educators, 'Defining Our Lives' --- already powerful television and a definitive film on domestic violence --- will have a lasting impact long after this issue fades from the headlines."--1994 Peabody Awards entry form.
Broadcast Date
1994-04-13
Asset type
Program
Media type
Moving Image
Duration
00:30:07.673
Credits
Producing Organization: Cambridge Documentary Films
Producing Organization: WTTW (Television station : Chicago, Ill.)
AAPB Contributor Holdings
The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia
Identifier: cpb-aacip-ca0f0a96f95 (Filename)
Format: VHS
Duration: 0:30:00
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Citations
Chicago: “Defending Our Lives,” 1994-04-13, The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed May 10, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-526-6688g8gj1q.
MLA: “Defending Our Lives.” 1994-04-13. The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. May 10, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-526-6688g8gj1q>.
APA: Defending Our Lives. Boston, MA: The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-526-6688g8gj1q