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Lindsay Lemmer
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Lindsay@LindsayLemmer.com
September 13, 2018. Madison, Wis.–A screening of Ava DuVernay’s galvanizing documentary 13th is slated for Thursday, September 20. 13th refers to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which reads, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.” DuVernay lays out the progression from slavery to the horrors of mass criminalization and the sprawling American prison industry with chilling clarity. 13th combines archival footage and testimony from activists, politicians, historians, and formerly incarcerated women and men to create a work of historical synthesis.
Following the film, there will be a panel discussion featuring women directly impacted by racial injustice in the US mass incarceration system, and local advocates and activists. Davette Baker, an organizer with the Human Rights Campaign, who’s worked in criminal justice reform in Milwaukee County will moderate. The panel lineup includes:
- Ali Muldrow, co-director of GSAFE, an organization that works to create safe environments for LGBTQIA+ youth. Muldrow is a community leader on issues that impact youth, including the achievement gap experienced by students of color, and the school to prison pipeline.
- Lorrie Hurckes Dwyer, executive director of Dane County TimeBank. She has served on Dane County’s Disproportionate Minority Contact Advisory and Implementation Committee, and is currently serving on Madison Metropolitan School District’s Community Guiding Coalition on Equitable Behavior and Discipline Practices, Madison Metropolitan School District’s Superintendents Human Relations Advisory Council, Dane Restorative Justice Coalition, and is a TimeBank USA Ambassador Core member.
- CV Vitolo-Haddad, Director of debate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a graduate student in the Department of Communication Arts. Vitolo-Haddad is a racial justice advocate and community leader.
- Shannon Frye, a member of the Industrial Workers of the World labor union Milwaukee Local 19, she’s worked primarily with the Equity Caucus, General Defense Committee and the recently created Forward Action Street Medics collective.
- Yolanda Perkins, state data manager for NextGen Wisconsin and a Milwaukee-based activist who has experienced racial injustice within the mass incarceration system in Wisconsin.
This event is provided by the Human Rights Campaign, the Madison Public Library, Women’s March Wisconsin, the Madison chapter of the National Organization for Women, and Community Shares of Wisconsin.
Details
13th screening with panel discussion
Thursday, September 20, 6-9 pm
Madison Central Public Library, 201 W Mifflin St, Madison, WI 53703
Room 301
Attendees should reserve their seat at this link.
Quotes about the film
“Powerful, infuriating… Ava DuVernay’s documentary ‘13TH’ will get your blood boiling… Electrifying.”
–THE NEW YORK TIMES
“A titanic statement by a major American voice.” — Joe McGovern | ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
“Crucial and stirring.” — Owen Gleiberman | VARIETY
“Smart and powerful. As put together by DuVernay’s longtime editor, Spencer Averick, everything in ‘13TH’ illuminates what is convincingly presented as a sad and tragic story that we are still living today.”
–Kenneth Turan | LOS ANGELES TIMES
“DuVernay creates a cogent, compelling argument in ‘13TH,’ which balances attractively filmed talking-head interviews with alternately heartbreaking and infuriating archival footage.”
–Ann Hornaday | THE WASHINGTON POST
“Incendiary, indelible and indispensable.” –Peter Travers | ROLLING STONE
About the film maker: Ava DuVernay
Academy Award nominee and winner of the Emmy, the BAFTA and the Peabody, Ava DuVernay is a writer, director, producer and film distributor. Her directorial work includes the Oscar-winning historical drama SELMA, the Oscar-nominated criminal justice documentary 13TH and Disney’s A WRINKLE IN TIME, on which she became the highest grossing black woman filmmaker in American cinema history. She is currently in production on her next project based on the infamous case known as CENTRAL PARK FIVE, while overseeing production of her hit TV series QUEEN SUGAR. Winner of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival’s Best Director Prize for her micro-budget film MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, DuVernay amplifies the work of people of color and women of all kinds through her independent film collective ARRAY, named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies. In 2017, she was featured as one of Fortune Magazine’s 50 Greatest Culture Leaders and TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People. DuVernay sits on the boards of Sundance Institute and Film Independent. She is based in Los Angeles, California.