When two brave women find a pattern of illegal involuntary sterilisations in California’s women’s prisons, they launch a battle against the system.
With a growing team of women inside prison working with formerly incarcerated colleagues on the outside, they uncover a series of state-wide crimes - from dangerously inadequate health care to sexual assault to coercive sterilisations - primarily targeting Black, Latinx and Indigenous women.
Captured over seven years, this shocking and emboldening legal drama is a damning account of a shameful and ongoing legacy of eugenics and reproductive injustice in the US, featuring a group of extraordinary women determined to ensure it ends here and now.
Register for free and join us for a live ScreenTalk via zoom at 8.30pm on Fri 19 Mar with filmmaker Erika Cohn, Sexual and Reproductive Health Doctor & Writer Annabel Sowemimo, and Human Rights Attorney Robin Levi.
US 2020 Dir Erika Cohn 82min
This film is fully captioned in English for audiences who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.
This film contains scenes of strong language and sexual references that viewers may find disturbing.
UK Digital Premiere
Image credit: Bianca Cline
Filmmaker Introduction
Filmmaker Introduction: Belly of The Beast
Director Erika Cohn introduces her film, Belly of The Beast, for Human Rights Watch Film Festival 2021.
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