BWF: Beyond Belief

BEYOND BELIEF

USA, 95 minutes, Documentary

Sunday, February 10 | 7:00 PM

Presented in conjunction with Belmont Public Library’s “One Book, One Belmont” Program

Sponsored by

Featuring food and beverages from Ali Baba Tandoor, 2008 Mass. Avenue, Cambridge

Susan Retik and Patti Quigley were two ordinary mothers living in the suburbs of Boston until both their husbands were killed on 9/11. Rather than turning inwards, grief compelled them to focus on the country where the terrorists who took their husbands' lives were trained: Afghanistan.

Over the course of two years, as they coped with loss and struggle to raise their families as single mothers, these extraordinary women dedicated themselves to empowering Afghan widows whose lives had been ravaged by decades of war, poverty and oppression—factors they consider to be the root causes of terrorism—by founding a school that teaches Afghan widows skills to help them earn a living (widows in Afghanistan are the poorest members of one of the poorest countries in the world). As Susan and Patti make the courageous journey from their comfortable neighborhoods to the most desperate Afghan villages, they discover a powerful bond with each other, an unlikely kinship with widows halfway around the world, and a profound way to move beyond tragedy.

From the ruins of the World Trade Center to those of Kabul and back, theirs is a journey of personal strength and international reconciliation, and a testament to the vision that peace can be forged...one woman at a time.

Speaker: Filmmaker Beth Murphy.

Tickets: $8; $7 students & seniors. Purchase in advance or day of show at the Studio Cinema box office or online at www.mktix.com ($1 service charge)