Musician-activist Natalie Merchant has directed a short documentary film titled SHELTER: A Concert Film to Benefit Victims of Domestic Violence, that shines light on a group of women living in the Mid-Hudson region of New York State responding to the crisis of domestic violence in their community with compassion and creativity. Musicians, advocates, criminal prosecutors, victims and survivors all take to the stage, illuminating the darkness surrounding this public health epidemic. Watch the film below.

Shelter was inspired by an event for One Billion Rising, a global campaign calling for an end to violence against women, held on February 14, 2013. Merchant will present a screening of this film this Friday, February 14, at the Old Dutch Church in Kingston, New York, on the day of One Billion Rising for Justice. 

Natalie Merchant said of the film:

"Last year, I attended a local One Billion Rising event near my home in the Hudson Valley. Upon entering, I was confronted by life-sized cardboard female figures, each with a name of a woman, the town where she had lived and the date on which she was murdered by her intimate partner. Fourteen women killed in ten years. One of the victims had been a neighbor of mine but I had not been aware of her death. My blood chilled. How could be a member of this community in good standing and not respond to this outrage. As the day progressed, I met directors of local shelters, prosecutors, police officers and survivors. I began to envision a follow-up event in which all these phenomenal advocates could be recognized for their work. I wanted to help them present to a larger audience this little understood and rarely discussed public health crisis in our region, in our world that is domestic violence."

Watch the film here: