Screening of Paper Tigers

Join us for the screening of the film Paper Tigers, the last film for this year’s Not So Easy Film Series. The documentary film directed by James Redford and Karen Pritzker will be screened on Friday, November 3rd at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday, November 5th at 2:00 p.m. at the Museum. The film’s runtime is 102 minutes and is unrated. There is a suggested $5 donation at the door.

Paper Tigers is the story of one high school’s unlikely success story that believed that stressed brains can’t learn. That was the nugget of neuroscience that Jim Sporleder, principal of a high school riddled with violence, drugs and truancy, took away from an educational conference in 2010. Three years later, the number of fights at Lincoln Alternative High School had gone down by 75% and the graduation rate had increased five-fold. Paper Tigers is the story of how one school made such dramatic progress.

Following six students over the course of a school year, we see Lincoln’s staff try a new approach to discipline: one based on understanding and treatment rather than judgment and suspension. Using a combination of verite and revealing diary cam footage, Paper Tigers is a testament to what the latest developmental science is showing: that just one caring adult can help break the cycle of adversity in a young person’s life.

The Not So Easy Film Series has been created for those who have questions that don’t have easy answers.  Through the power of cinema, the selected films share another point of view and offer insights about issues that are challenging to understand, elude solutions, or sometimes even to imagine. The films in the series hold the potential to move us toward a more nuanced understanding of the world around us -even if we still don’t know the answer to those hard questions.

This program is funded in part by a grant from the Two Rivers Arts Council, the Illinois Arts Council. Additional funding was provided by a grant from the Illinois Humanities, with funds from the State of Illinois American Rescue Plan Act.

The Western Illinois Museum is located at 201 S. Lafayette Street, one block south of Macomb’s Courthouse Square. For more information, call the Museum at 309.837.2750, text 309.837.2613, or email info@wimuseum.org. More details and updates can be found on the Museum’s social media channels.

About the Filmmakers

James Redford
James Redford made many documentaries and feature filmmaking and collaborated with Karen Pritzker on HBO’s The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia,  a film that gave hope to millions of families around the world who have struggled to educate their dyslexic children. From there, they turned their story-telling eye to the hidden menace of adverse childhood experiences for the film Paper Tigers. James also co-founded and Chaired The Redford Center, a film production non-profit that translates complex environmental challenges into human stories that inspire. Honors include the 2014 WildCare Environmental Award, 2015 filmmaker envoy for USC/US State Department’s American Film Showcase, and service on the leadership circle for the UN’s second annual Media for Social Impact Summit.

Karen Pritzker

Karen Pritzker is an editor, film producer and co-founder of KPJR Films. She has executive produced three award-winning documentary films: The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia; Paper Tigers; and Resilience: The Biology of Stress and The Science of Hope. Each film has served as a catalyst for social change, sparking global movements that have increased community awareness, created educational initiatives and impacted all levels of policy.

Premiering at The Sundance Film Festival in 2012, The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia uses documentary media to educate global audiences about dyslexia, the number one learning, affecting 20% of the population. Following thousands of screenings, worldwide audiences formed grassroots movements and took immediate action to improve the lives of dyslexic students, their families and their teachers through inclusive educational and policy initiatives.

Similarly, Pritzker’s films Paper Tigers and Resilience: The Biology of Stress and The Science of Hope have served as creative tools used by diverse audiences of educators, health care providers, juvenile justice professionals, non-profit agencies and corporations to share the impact of childhood trauma and toxic stress on the child, the family and our society as a whole. Named a National Resilience Champion by childhood trauma and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) leaders, Pritzker and her films are reframing beliefs around trauma and stress worldwide.

Pritzker also serves as President of the Seedlings Foundation, where she directs resources toward programs that nourish the physical and mental health of children and families as well as institutions that foster an educated and engaged citizenship. Since its founding in 2002, the Foundation has awarded millions of dollars in grants, catalyzing advancements in medical research, social services, job retraining for adults, affordable housing, and online news sites dedicated to local, factual, ad-free reporting.

Pritzker was the editor of My Hero: Extraordinary People and the Heroes Who Inspire Them (Simon & Schuster) and co-editor of Profiles in Dyslexia, which features the untold stories of successful dyslexics from all walks of life. She received her B.A. from Northwestern University and serves on the board of directors of Grameen America, a nonprofit that offers low-cost microloans to women below the poverty line, as well as Grameen PrimaCare, which provides affordable health care for immigrant women.