Academy Award-winning actor Geena Davis, founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, will give a free public lecture at the University of Arkansas on the ways women are represented in the film industry – both onscreen and behind the camera.

Her organization, founded in 2007, is a research-based organization that works within the entertainment industry to increase the presence of female characters in media aimed at children, and to reduce stereotyping of women in media.

She is well known for her career as a actor, where she has appeared in films such as Tootsie, The Accidental Tourist, Thelma and Louise, A League of Their Own, and others. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The Accidental Tourist, and won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in A League of Their Own.

Davis will also discuss the Bentonville Film Festival, the event she founded last year in Benton County which also aims to further promote diversity in media.

The lecture is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Thursday, March 10 at Giffels Auditorium inside Old Main. Afterwards, a reception will be held in Room 823 inside Old Main.

The event, sponsored by the UA’s Department of Communication’s Film Appreciation Society, is free to attend and open to the public.