‘Who She Is’ brings missing women to life on screen

The Casper College Diversity and Inclusion Committee and the new Casper College Indigenous Student Alliance present a special screening of “Who She Is,” a Wyoming-made documentary about missing and murdered Indigenous women.

The powerful film comes to Casper College on Thursday, March 2, at 6:30 p.m. Co-directors and co-producers Jordan Dresser and Sophie Barksdale will attend and participate in a Q&A following the film at 7:15.

“Who She Is” looks at the lives of four women, Abbi, Sheila, Jocelyn, and Lela, who are part of the statistics of the missing and murdered Indigenous women epidemic in Wyoming and beyond, according to the filmmakers. By bringing these missing women to life on screen through animation and first-person storytelling, the documentary aims to humanize the people behind the statistics. Audiences will learn about each woman’s loves and losses and will come to know their story, noted the film’s synopsis.

“When I came up with the idea of ‘Who She Is,’ I wanted to honestly portray and humanize the missing and murdered Indigenous women stories that were swirling in my Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho community in Wyoming,” said Dresser. “In giving the women a voice on the screen, I wanted them to come alive and offer a slice of justice that I felt like they deserved,” he noted. “We carefully chose these four women’s stories from Wind River to highlight specific issues and risks that impact women directly, such as domestic violence and human trafficking,” added Barksdale.

“Who She Is” will be shown in the Wheeler Concert Hall, in the Music Building, and is free and open to the public. The Casper College Diversity and Inclusion Committee is co-chaired by Kat Bohr-Buresh, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Casper College coordinator, and Kristina Pham, psychology instructor. Daniel Gallegos, political science instructor, is the adviser for the Casper College Indigenous Student Alliance. You can learn more about the diversity efforts at Casper College here.