EVANSTON — Soroptimist International of Evanston (SIE) is sponsoring a free public preview of the film “Who She Is” at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 22, at the Strand Theater. Through funding from sponsors Lynn Fox and Andy Bailey, along with Evanston Regional Hospital, the club was able to bring the documentary to Evanston.

“I hope local residents will come to see the film,” SIE President Jessica Kendrick said. “These are all Wyoming stories and the film was produced in Wyoming. These crimes happen right here in our state.”

“Who She Is” tells the story of four individual women caught in the missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW) epidemic. By bringing these missing women to life on screen, through animation and first-person storytelling, the documentary aims to humanize the people behind the statistics.

Audiences will learn each woman’s loves and losses and will come to know their story. Through these women, the documentary hopes to shine a light on the wider MMIW epidemic and gendered violence.

The film by Northern Arapaho Tribe member Jordan Dresser and Sophie Barksdale and produced by Caldera Productions was made possible by funding from the Wyoming Division of Victim Services (DVS). The mission of DVS is to cultivate social change and access to victim services through the provision of resources, education, and program support and development.

In 2019, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon created the state’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Task Force. In its initial years the task force has completed its first state-wide report into the MMIP epidemic in Wyoming and has commissioned this film project to raise awareness of the MMIP crisis in Wyoming and beyond.

The film has received numerous awards: Honorable Mention from The Women’s Independent Film & Television Festival; Best Documentary at Flagstaff International Film Festival; Best Social Justice Film at Latino & Native American Film Festival; and Best Animated Documentary at Oregon Documentary Film Festival. The film is still on the festival circuit for the rest of 2023 and into early next year.

“The film screening will last about 37 minutes with a 20-minute follow-up film,” Kendrick said, “and then the audience will have the opportunity to participate in a virtual question and answer time with the directors and one of the film’s participants.”