Host Your Own Screening

We encourage elders, members of the Aging Services Network, grassroots groups, senior centers, retirement homes, congregations, law enforcement, health care providers, academics and any individual with grandparents across the country to organize screenings and actions around An Age for Justice: Confronting Elder Abuse in America in a nationwide effort to increase public awareness of elder abuse in America and to give elders and advocates a voice in effecting needed policy changes.  To learn more about the campaign and to see the faces and hear the voices of the elders this crisis affects please watch videos here and continue your visit at our site!

Join the movement and start planning your event today! It’s easy, and on this page you’ll find everything you need to host a successful screening in your community! Here are four simple steps  and if you would like additional details, download our comprehensive community Screening Guide by clicking here.

1. Identify your objectives and target audiences

We encourage you to think about what you’d like to get out of the event. Your objective may be as basic as building public awareness around the issue of elder abuse or more focused on prompting a discussion within your community (whether that community is a senior center, law enforcement agency, counseling center, neighborhood, or larger community as a whole).  You may want to inspire viewers to support a local issue or program or provide a forum where audience members can discuss how the issue affects their lives and their families’ lives.

We urge you to be clear about what type of screening you want to hold (public vs. private, large vs. small, etc.), who your audience will be (elders, social workers, law enforcement, families of elders, general public, etc.), and what message you hope the audience will get from the presentation.

2. Get the word out!

If you host a public screening, publicity will help draw people to your event but also will raise awareness for the issue. Whether you are showing An Age for Justice: Confronting Elder Abuse in America in your senior center, to local law enforcement officials, or to a larger public audience, we have provided materials that will help you bring attention to the event should you need or want to promote it. In the Screening Guide we have included a flyer template, a press release template, and a template for a public service announcement.

If publicizing an event is new to you, contact another organization in your community that you know has experience with event promotion and ask for their help.

3. Preparing for the event and materials

TEST EQUIPMENT: To order a DVD for your screening, click here. We will send you the DVD in the mail and although it will likely have no flaws, we encourage you to watch the video before the screening using the equipment that you will use at the event. We also recommend that you have the video projector system set up at least a half hour before the audience arrives so you can ensure that everything is running smoothly. Be sure to address the needs of people with hearing and visual limitations, especially if your target audience is older Americans.

MATERIALS: Whether or not you have a conversation with the audience, we strongly encourage you to provide printed materials that the audience can take home. We recognize that you will likely have materials appropriate for your audience but have also provided a variety of printouts in our Screening Guide just in case. These include an:

• Elder Abuse Fact Sheet
• Elder Justice Act Summary
• Summary of the Human Rights of the Aged
  
• Introduction to the Elder Justice Now Campaign

POST-SCREENING DISCUSSION GUIDE: The most challenging part of showing this film may be discussing it with the audience afterwards. This is particularly true if you are hosting the screening in a senior center, a retirement facility, or elsewhere older adults and their loved ones will be present. We encourage you to be prepared by having a social worker, a discussion facilitator, and crisis contact information available.  We have included a range of questions to get your discussion started in the Discussion Guide that can be found in our full Screening Guide.

CHECKLIST: Finally, double check the Event Planning Checklist in our comprehensive Screening Guide to be sure that you haven’t forgotten anything.

4. The event!

We suggest giving a brief introduction before the screening to introduce the film and the campaign, to let people know that there will be a post-screening discussion, and to encourage the audience to participate. If you have any special guests, such as local organizers or advocates, you may want to announce them as well.

Once the film is over, we recommend that you provide or distribute the materials before the post-screening discussion as some people may not stay for the full discussion.

The discussion guide will help you frame questions and lead a targeted discussion about issues in the film, in your community, and how to take action following your event. Be sure to leave enough time for the discussion, as this will be your opportunity to connect An Age for Justice: Confronting Elder Abuse in America to issues in your community and to encourage people to take action!

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Any information is invaluable!!!

1. Please send us advance information about your event including the date, time and location, and a link to your website (if applicable), and we’ll post your event on our screenings page. This way we help publicize your event and share it with the Elder Justice Now community. Just send to kelly@witness.org.

2. Finally, please let us know how the event goes by filling out our Organizer Survey, Audience Survey or both! Your responses will help us plan future events and better understand what worked and what can be improved. Thank you for your support!