Sheila Schroeder, an Associate Professor in the Department of Media, Film and Journalism Studies, is an award-winning video producer/director/editor and educator. She will be the featured speaker at the Max Pickerill Lecture Series on Tuesday, Sept. 16, beginning at7 p.m. in the Northwest Kansas Cultural Arts Center.

Her current film project, Woodstock West: Build Not Burn tells the story of a 1970 University of Denver protest and explores the impact this “fight the power” moment had on the young people who tried to change the world. 

Her most recently completed film is co-directed with Kate Burns. SoleJourney is an inspiring and true story of courageous families confronting the anti-LGBT rhetoric and political policy-making of the fundamentalist mega-organization Focus on the Family. The film has screened at the Breckenridge Festival of Film and the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival where it ranked as one of the top documentaries of the festival.

Her 2006 short, Crunch, has been licensed to the Documentary Film Channel after screening at 26 film festivals including the Starz Denver Film Festival and the Anchorage International Film Festival. The film recognizes that life is full of challenges, but when 75-year-old Beverly Burns stumbles upon something she initially finds horrific, she determines she has a choice: she can dwell on the tragedy or she can find the comedy. Recognizing her own cultural biases and getting the help of a few friends helps her find the humor within the chance encounter.

Sideshow has been accepted at various film festivals including the San Francisco Documentary Film Festival. The film highlights a day behind the scenes at the Kobe Bryant Rape trial in Eagle, Colo. and the sideshow created by the media and public.

Proud Alumni, a film precipitated by her alma mater’s refusal to print her and her partner’s same sex wedding announcement, has been shown around the country and received an Award of Excellence from the Berkeley Film and Video Festival.

Her 2002 release, See What I Got: A Story of Girls, Basketball, Confidence and Courage,documents a year in the life of a program designed to build self-confidence in girls through basketball. This film played before various festival audiences. The film received a runner-up for best documentary award at the Danville International Children’s Film Festival.

She holds a Ph.D. from Indiana University where she developed her interest in sport, gender and media and where she shot her first documentary films, Padanaram: Communal living in the 90s (1995), and Sisters of the Earth (1996).

There is no charge to attend. The Max Pickerill Lecture Series is funded annually by anonymous donors. For more information contact Dr. Linda Davis-Stephens at 785.460.5528.