Directed and Edited by: Carol Leigh; Produced by: Cynthia Chandler (Women’s Positive Legal Action Network/ Justice NOW); Drawings by: Isis Rodriguez; Soundtrack: Gina Love & Carol Leigh’ Featuring: Duran Ruiz, Twillah Wallace, Yvonne “Bunny” Knuckles, Miriam Jones, Lisa O’Conner, Gwen Patton, Mary Lucey, Cynthia Chandler, Joyce Miller, Judy Greenspan, Loren Jones, Rachel Maddow, Bobby Castillo and H. Gutierrez. Narrated by Angela Y. Davis. Funded, in part, by a grant from Agape Foundation and by Marta Drury.
(1998-35 min.)
This work is unique as it portrays the injustices of the California prison system as seen through the eyes of HIV+ women incarcerated in this system. “Blind Eye To Justice” was named by Twillah Wallace, a current inmate and HIV+ woman. Animation and found footage create a powerful montage that evokes the atmosphere in women’s prisons–the violations as well as the hope and courage of prison activists who fight quietly, and from the inside.
As well as documenting the experience of many women including Patti Contrerras, Blind Eye To Justice educates audiences by providing an overview of the issues of human rights for HIV+ women caught in the criminal justice system.
“Male prisoners have listed over 400 male prisoners who have died from AIDS since 1985 at the California Medical Facility at Vacaville. Countless numbers of women prisoners have also died of AIDS, but no one yet has documented the numbers or their names.” Blind Eye To Justice is dedicated to prisoner activist Joann Walker and “to those women who have died, and those who are surviving.” This video is part of the MIX Lesbian and Gay Experimental Film/Video Festival (N.Y.) Sex Workers Video Festival (Portland, Ore.) and Critical Resistance Film Festival (Berkeley).
Created in a digital format, the video interweaves images from diverse sources in a riveting montage of personal accounts, found footage, statistics, and news footage. Blind Eye To Justice is a compelling tapestry of violation and empowerment.
Director Carol Leigh has won numerous awards for her documentaries and narratives including several at AFI’s Visions of US contest. Leigh was a founding member of ACT UP San Francisco, and she has taught video production at San Francisco Community Television. Cynthia Chandler recently won Soros’ Open Society Institute Independent Projects Fellowship for her work with HIV+ women prisoners.
Festival and Other Screenings include:
San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Festival Film and Video Festival Women In The Director’s Chair (Chicago)
Black Internaltional Cinema (Berlin, Germany)
KRON’S BAY TV- Women’s History Month
California Coalition for Women Prisoners: International Women’s Day (San Francisco)
MIX Lesbian and Gay Experimental Festival (N.Y.)
Sex Workers Video Festival (Portland, Ore.)
Critical Resistance Film Festival (Berkeley)
World AIDS Day Festival at the Walker Art Center
Sex Workers’ Art Show (Olympia, Washington) AIDS Update Conference 1999 (San Francisco)
For festival information and information about showings, contact Carol Leigh.