Name Sheila Schroeder Movies SoleJourney | Role Filmmaker | |
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Sheila E. Schroeder (Born August 25, 1964 in Valparaiso, Indiana) is an American independent documentary filmmaker, Associate Professor and activist whose films work to represent people and stories outside the mainstream.
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Early life
Dr. Schroeder grew up in rural Indiana playing basketball the daughter of a seamstress and a carpenter. After completing her bachelor’s degree with high honors in Journalism at Valparaiso University, Sheila went on to pursue both her masters and Ph.D at Indiana University. Since then, Sheila has moved up the ranks through the Department of Media, Film and Journalism Studies at the University of Denver, and was granted tenure in the fall of 2009.
Career
In addition to being an award-winning teacher, Sheila has completed five independent documentaries. Sheila’s films have shown at over 50 film festivals including the Starz Denver International Film Festival, the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, the Boulder International Film Festival, and the Mumbai International FICTS Festival.
Filmography
Activism
Sheila’s activism started early when she went out for the 8th grade boys’ basketball team at her parochial school. When parish priests told her she couldn’t play with the boys, her parents and their friends made sure their daughters had a team to play on. Sheila’s mom, Joanne, stepped up and became the school’s first girls’ athletic director.
More recently, Sheila and her partner, Kate Burns, staged a sit-in at the Denver County Clerk and Recorder’s office when they were denied a same-sex marriage license. The sit-in was precipitated by the 2006 Colorado electorate which refused to grant domestic partnerships through Referendum I and established marriage to be only for opposite sex couples through Amendment 43. Sheila and Kate were found guilty of trespassing and were sentenced to 28 hours of community service which they served by producing a fundraiser for The Center, which services the GLBTQ community. You can see their protest as a DVD extra on their SoleJourney DVD.