Robert H. DuRant, Ph.D., a pediatric researcher at Brenner Children's Hospital, will be a guest panelist at the Anifest Film Festival, held in the Czech Republic from May 5 – 11.
DuRant will be speaking about violence in the media and its effects on our children. DuRant has conducted a series of studies over the past 15 years, showing that exposure to violence and victimization is the single strongest predictor of children's and adolescents' violent outcomes.
A series of short films related to violence in the media will be shown during the film festival followed by a seminar, where panelists from around the world will share their research into this topic.
"Media violence is thought to influence the use of violence by youth through modeling and reinforcing violence and desensitization to the consequences of violence with increased pro-violent attitudes," DuRant said. "This seminar helps to remind filmmakers of the important role they play in developing films with decreased violent content."
The seminar, titled "Media and Violence," is sponsored by the government of the Czech Republic and marks the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. Educators, government officials and the general public are expected to attend. Over 600 animated films are expected to be shown. For more information about the festival, visit their website at www.anifest.cz.
Brenner Children's Hospital is part of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.
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Media Contact: Rae Bush (336) 716-6878, rbush@wfubmc.edu; Shannon Koontz (336) 716-2415, shkoontz@wfubmc.edu; or Karen Richardson (336) 716-4453, krchrdsn@wfubmc.edu.
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