Événement

WAR ZONE w/MAGGIE HADLEIGH-WEST IN PERSON

WAR ZONE
1998. 77 mins.

THURSDAY, JULY 26 7:30 PM
(WITH FILMMAKER Q&A! This screening is $10)

Maggie Hadleigh-Wests incendiary direct cinema documentary, WAR ZONE, is a battle cry for anyone whos been harassed, catcalled, and assaulted while rightfully claiming their slice of public space. Twenty years ago, West videotaped herself and other women in cities across America as they idly walked down the street. The zip codes may change, but not the trash on the sidewalks: an unending array of men openly propositioning these women, commenting on their appearances and trying to cut them down to size. Camera in hand, West returned fire, confronting them about their wonton disrespect and forcing them to explain their disgusting behavior. The results are cathartic, at times terrifying, and enraging above all.

WAR ZONE is about sex, power and what happens when meneither knowingly or unknowinglythreaten a womans right to walk undisturbed on the streets. What exactly do catcalls, leers or a whole litany of other behaviors mean to a woman? And why do men engage in these behaviors? Shot all over the US, Hadleigh-West turns her camera on men in the same way that they turn their aggression on her. WAR ZONE is 76 minutes of explosive footage as the filmmaker places herself in very real danger by daring to ask the men on the streets why they are treating a complete stranger in a sexual way

Shrewdly building a canny tale of humor, hostility, and, ultimately, physical violence. War Zone is a charged 76 minutes that asks the questions on the mind of every woman who knows the anger and frustration of not being able to walk down the street undisturbed. Hazel-Dawn Dumpert, LA Weekly

Everything she shows is fascinating, revealing and provocative. Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader