National Eating Disorders Awareness Week: February 25 – March 3, 2019
Looking to organize an event on campus or in your community during National Disorders Awareness Week?
If so, we’re pleased to offer you a 20% discount on a selection of MEF videos that deal directly with the cultural norms, media messages, and social attitudes that can lead to disordered eating. Simply click here to begin shopping for this select group of films at discounted prices now through March 3, 2019.
Ranging from examinations of the advertising industry’s glamorization of unattainable ideals of beauty to deeply personal accounts of what it’s like to struggle with eating disorders, these videos challenge us to think critically about how commercial media messages can shape the way we see and understand our bodies.
To help you organize successful screenings of these films, we’ve also put together this free web-based tool kit. The kit provides tips on how to host an event, and enables you to download color posters to help you with publicity. The kit also includes links to our discussion guides, which are full of provocative questions designed to help start and guide discussions. It’s fairly easy to plan a campus or community screening! Here’s a guide to help walk you through step-by-step.
1. Choose a film to screen
Choose a film to screen from the list below. If you click on the film, you’ll be able to read the film’s synopsis and watch a trailer or full-length preview to help you decide.
To get 20% off, just click here to add the discount to your shopping cart.
2. Find a venue.
Many public libraries, universities, places of worship, community centers, and schools will gladly make space available for community film screenings. Make sure to reserve your venue for enough time to allow adequate time for screening the film and discussion. (For a 35-minute film, we suggest reserving the venue for at least an hour and a half, and for a 60-minute film, we suggest reserving the venue for at least two hours.)
3. Get a DVD or streaming rental
To order MEF DVDs or streaming subscriptions & rentals at 20% off, just click here to add the discount to your shopping cart or enter coupon code neda19.
Allow at least eight business days for processing the order and shipping time. DVDs will often arrive to U.S. locations more quickly than that, but leave yourself plenty of time.
One-year and three-year streaming subscriptions will require two business days for set-up.
7-Day Rentals are on-demand and will begin immediately after purchase.
4. Get Ready
If your screening is at a public venue, you’ll want to make sure that they have a DVD player or a computer that plays DVDs and projection and sound equipment. Get the wifi network name & password in advance. Make sure to test your equipment well ahead of time, so you can get technical assistance if you need it. It is also helpful to have a table for handouts and email signup sheets.
Print out the discussion guide for the film you are screening (MEF offers discussion guides for many, but not all, of our films). Review the discussion questions and any activities that you might want to use. While the discussion guides are geared for use in a classroom setting, they can be easily adapted for use in community discussions.
Make copies of handouts and have them on hand at your event. MEF’s Deconstructing an Advertisement and NEDA’s Media, Body Image & Eating Disorders are great places to start. You might also print other toolkits and handouts off from NEDA’s website.
5. Publicize!
Publicize your screening! Here are some suggestions for getting the word out.
- Let your friends and family know.
- Send an announcement to any relevant listservs. Be sure to include screening details and contact information.
- Send an announcement with a brief description of the film and screening details to your local newspaper. Most community newspapers will list local screenings for free.
- List the screening on the events section of Craig’s List (http://www.craigslist.org) or other community websites.
- Make a Facebook event and invite your contacts. Share the event on your wall for extra publicity. Be sure to tag @MediaEd so we can see your event!
- Make a flyer. Click here for flier templates (available for some but not all films) — just fill in the details for your screening, or make your own. Print copies and hang them at local libraries, gyms, coffee shops, laundry mats, counseling centers, places of worship, etc.
- Invite local decision makers and the media. Let your board of education know about the screening. Call your Congressperson and local representatives and ask if they will send a staff member. Ask your local newspaper if they will send someone to cover your event.
- Finally, be sure to let us know about your screening. We’d love to know what you have planned!
