Cruel & Unusual Dan Hunt, US, 2006 2:00pm

Imagine a lifetime of anguish over something as fundamental as your gender. Then imagine struggling with that in prison. This unflinching documentary exposes the horrifying experiences of transgender women (MtF) incarcerated in men’s prisons. The women in this film face humiliation, solitary confinement, and live in constant fear of rape and violence. Denied medical treatment and hormones, they revert to a gender they spent their lifetimes trying to escape. Shot over three years and scored by indie-rockers the Aislers Set, Cruel & Unusual weaves together prison interviews, landscape portraits, and vérité footage into a haunting and brutally honest film about an invisible segment of our society fighting for their dignity to live as women.

Co-Presented by Chicago Women's Health Center, www.chicagowomenshealthcenter.org

Film's official website

Also showing, Latina, Rome and Their Family (Ji Hoon Park, US 2004), the touching true story of an African-American transsexual couple who raise a child and confront our assumptions about family and normalcy. 

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Reeling 2006: November 2 -12 | For more information call 773-293-1447 or email reeling@chicagofilmmakers.org

Presented by Chicago Filmmakers, 5243 N.Clark Street, Chicago IL 60640