We Will Rise: Michelle Obama’s Mission to Educate Girls Around the World

On October 12, 2016, the International Day of the Girl, We Will Rise: Michelle Obama’s Mission to Educate Girls Around the World premiered on CNN. This one-hour special film takes a journey with global leaders and activists- including First Lady Michelle Obama, actors Meryl Streep and Freida Pinto, and CNN journalist Isha Sesay to meet a group of girls from Liberia and Morocco who have overcome immense barriers to get an education. In 2013, The Documentary Group’s film ‘Girl Rising’ journeyed around the globe to witness the strength of the human spirit and the power of girls education to change the world. Since then, Michelle Obama launched the “Let Girls Learn” initiative to address the range of challenges that prevent 62 million girls around the world from attaining a quality education. We Will Rise: Michelle Obama’s Mission to Educate Girls Around the World provides a unique up-close look at these challenges, and the extraordinary stories of the girls who face them.

Across the country, millions tuned in to We Will Rise: Michelle Obama’s Mission to Educate Girls Around the World, and became the highest rated CNN film of all the time. The film is available on-demand via CNNgo and across CNN’s mobile platforms, cable and satellite systems. We Will Rise was selected by The Television Academy for the 10th Annual Television Academy Honors, which recognizes “six exceptional programs available on various platforms that have harnessed the extraordinary power of television to advance social change.” We Will Rise was also the winner of the CINE Golden Eagle Award for Nonfiction Content Feature- Current Affairs or Investigations, as well as the American Cinema Editors EDDIE Award, and was a nominee for the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications Vision Award for Best Documentary.

We Will Rise: Michelle Obama’s Mission to Educate Girls Around the World was directed by Tony Gerber, and produced by Martha Adams, Beth Osisek, and Tony Gerber. Innbo Shim of The Documentary Group and Courtney Sexton of CNN Films are Co-Executive Producers. The executive producers are Amy Entelis of CNN Worldwide and Tom Yellin of The Documentary Group and Girl Rising.