Films at SF City Hall: No Human Involved

Room 305, 1 Dr Carlton B Goodlett Place, San Francisco

For reservations visit: nohumaninvolved.eventbrite.com

The 10th Biennial San Francisco Bay Area Sex Worker Film and Arts Festval,  presents No Human Involved: Sex Workers and the Prison Industrial Complex, a film screening and discussion featuring PJ Starr's "No Human Involved," about the death of Marcia Powell while she was in the custody of the Arizona prison system for a prostitution arrest. Additional videos include a Vancouver Police Department Guidelines short advocating respect for and protection of sex workers, an animation about harrassment and abuse of sex workers in Toronto and J's story, a portrait of a sex worker and activist fighting for her rights in New Jersey.

"Sex workers are among many whom are vulnerable and targeted by the  discriminatory correctional industrial complex in the USA and beyond. This context sets the stage for 'accidents waiting to happen,' such as the death of Marcia Powell while in custody in Arizona.  Sex workers have long been targets of the such abuse, along with immigrants, people of color, queers, transgender people and others. As San Francisco steps up as a Sanctuary City, artists from our communities step up to remind us all about the history and consequences of systematic oppressions within the criminal justice system. Speakers include Kristina Dolgin (Red Light Legal), Lania Watkins (California Prostitutes Education Project) and others TBA. The screening of the movie, No Human Involved, is sponsored by the San Francisco Department on the Status of Women.

No Human Involved by PJ Starr  
Screening of this film is sponsored by the San Francisco Department on the Status of Women
In 2009 after she was sentenced to more than two years of imprisonment for solicitation of prostitution, Marcia Powell was locked in a metal cage in the sun at an Arizona prison. Hours later she collapsed in the over 107 degree heat and by day's end she was dead. Even though an internal investigation carried out by the Arizona Department of Corrections revealed that prison guards had denied her water and ridiculed her when she pleaded for help, no one was held accountable. 01:12:00/2016/US

Community Voices: J's Voice  by Derek J. Demeri with assistance of PJ Starr
Human rights activist & New Jersey Red Umbrella Alliance (NJRUA) co-founder Derek Demeri works with former sex worker and community activist 'J' to highlight human rights violations she suffered in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Candid, down to earth, and powerfully crafted, the narrative of J's Voice highlights her  ‘matter of fact’ courage at the basis of her struggle.  4:40/2014/US

Vancouver Police Department Sex Work Enforcement Guidelines
The guidelines presented in this video are reflective of the Vancouver Police Department and recommended by the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry with the goal of protecting sexworkers... or, as the Chief constable of the Vancouver police Department explains “We hope you will join us in creating a new relationship between sex workers, the community and the police.” http://vancouver.ca/police/assets/pdf/reports-policies/sex-enforcement-guidelines.pdf      5:09/2013/Vancouver

Prowling by Night by Gwendolyn              
Prowling by Night, about challenges for street-based workers at the onset of the AIDS crisis, was a landmark work in the sex worker rights movement. Made with the participation of 21 sex workers, Prowling also documents harassment in the context of HIV prevention efforts. Made for the National Film Board of Canada, this groundbreaking work is based on candid testimonies of actual sex workers.  12:25/1990/Toronto

Gwendolyn is an artist, director a, performer, filmmaker  and activist . She was known simply as Gwendolyn. Her prolific work on behalf of sex workers in Toronto began in 1977 with the founding of BEAVER (Better End All Vicious Erotic Repression). She was a key player in the early advocacy group Canadian Organization for the Rights of Prostitutes (CORP) and a founding member of Maggie’s (Toronto Prostitutes’ Community Service Project, 1986) and SWAT (Sex Workers’ Alliance of Toronto, 1992.