Film screening at Aurora University

Aurora University will screen "Iron Jawed Angels," a film chronicling women's fight to vote in the U.S., at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 3. The second of four films in a free public series for 2008-09 will be shown at 7 p.m. in Crimi Auditorium in the Institute for Collaboration at 407 S. Calumet Ave. in Aurora.

Robert Daugherty, assistant professor of social work, will introduce the film and moderate a post-screening discussion.

Starring Hilary Swank, "Angels" recounts a key chapter in U.S. history: the struggle of suffragists who fought for the passage of the 19th Amendment. Focusing on the two defiant women, Alice Paul (Swank) and Lucy Burns (Frances O'Connor), the film shows how the activists broke from the mainstream women's rights movement and created a more radical wing to secure women's voting rights in 1920.

Although the protagonists have different personalities and backgrounds - Alice is a Quaker and Lucy an Irish Brooklynite - they are united in their fierce devotion to women's suffrage.

The women and their volunteers clash with older, conservative activists, particularly Carrie Chapman Catt (Angelica Huston). They also battle public opinion in a tumultuous time of war and the most powerful men in the country, including President Woodrow Wilson (Bob Gunton). Along the way, Alice gives up a chance for love, and colleague Inez Mulholland (Julia Ormond) gives up her life. The women are thrown in jail, with an ensuing hunger strike making headline news. The women's resistance to being force-fed earns them the nickname "The Iron Jawed Angels."

The film series is part of AU's "Celebrating Arts and Ideas" series, including art, films, theater, music and lectures during 2008-09. The film series continues at 7 p.m. in Crimi Auditorium with "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," Jan. 28; and "Bigger, Faster, Stronger," March 23. Call (630) 844-5615 for details.