Locally produced documentary film Fly Like a Girl has been receiving national acclaim throughout the film festival circuit, being screened at 12 film festivals and winning four awards. The film will screen at 7pm on January 25, 2020 at the Historic Polk Theatre in Lakeland, Florida.

About the Film:

From a lego-loving young girl who includes female pilots in her toy airplanes, to a courageous woman who helped lead shuttle missions to space, Fly Like a Girl brings the real-life stories of a diverse group of female aviators to light. The film reveals a movement of girls and women relentlessly pursuing their passion for aviation, a field currently dominated by men. The film includes interviews with Vernice Armour, the first female African American Combat pilot; Nicole Stott, Flight Engineer and Mission specialist on NASA shuttle missions; Senator Tammy Duckworth, Iraq War Veteran; and Purple Heart recipient, Shaesta Waiz, the youngest woman to fly solo around the world in a single-engine aircraft, as well as several other remarkable girls and women.

Tickets are available for $10 at PolkTheatre.org

Katie McEntire Wiatt, the film’s director, first developed the idea for the film when she was a Polk County primary school teacher and saw first-hand the gap in confidence young female students felt in the classroom, especially in relation to STEM subjects. Around the same time Wiatt also saw aerobatic pilot Patty Wagstaff fly at the annual SUN ‘n FUN Aerospace Expo in Lakeland and was inspired to learn more about female aviators. 

Fly Like a Girl is produced by Lakeland-based Indie Atlantic Films and is currently working with distribution outlets for a wider release in 2020.

Film Festival Awards: DOXX Spotlight Winner Tallgrass Film Festival, Wichita, KS Edison Award of Innovation Fort Myers Film Festival, Fort Myers, FL Best Feature Documentary Hot Springs International Women’s Film Festival, Hot Springs, AR 

For more information, visit www.flylikeagirl.film