University of Northern Iowa to screen domestic violence documentary

University of Northern Iowa’s Patricia A. Tomson Center for Violence Prevention — which for more than a decade has been working to address violence through education, training, engagement and collaboration — on March 7 will host a free screening of the documentary, “This is Where I Learned Not to Sleep.”

The 6:30 p.m. screening at the Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center on the UNI campus will include a question and answer with the film’s subject Mark Wynn and director Kristen Kelly.

Waterloo police officer Stacy Hesse, Waypoint Services domestic violence victim services director Nelly Hill, and Department of Correction treatment services manager Michael Schreck also will participate in the Q&A, which will follow the screening.

“Our center has worked alongside executive producer Cindy Waitt for many years and has screened her previous documentaries in our community,” Alysa Mozak, director of UNI’s Center for Violence Prevention, said in a statement. “Mark Wynn is a renowned advocate in the law enforcement and corrections field, and we are pleased to share his story and have him speak to inform our community about the impact of domestic violence on our society.”

The documentary follows Wynn, a Nashville police lieutenant, as he works to reform years of domestic violence mishandling, cover-ups, and abuse within law enforcement — while also grappling with his own violent childhood.

“While training officers in rural Texas, Lt. Wynn revisits his childhood home for the first time since he escaped as a child and confronts his family’s traumatic past,” according to a UNI summary of the film. Wynn challenges his law enforcement colleagues “to end generations of disregard and systemic failures around domestic violence.”

The documentary taps its access to sensitive police training to delve into the complex relationship between police and family violence.

“By revealing his own haunting childhood, Lt. Wynn challenges other men to stand up and reform the system to better help women and children,“ according to a summary of the documentary, quoting Wynn, who said, “Men create 95 percent of these crimes — it’s up to us to stop the violence.”

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com