MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release
October 7, 2005

Contact: Dan Furmansky

Thursday, October 27

Creative Alliance follows the camera behind bars in its Views of Justice documentary series with a documentary on a very important criminal justice issue - Transgender people in prison. Director Dan Hunt premieres a first-ever look into the lives of transgender women in men's prisons Oct 27!

Cruel and Unusual (Hunt, 2005) - The first documentary to glimpse the lives of transgender women living in men's prisons in the U.S. The filmmakers spent two years filming "trans-women" (people who identify themselves as women despite being born men) in male facilities and following a few who are released. The filmmakers met several prisoners from across the country who are driven to extreme acts by their feelings of gender dysphoria and their prisons' refusals to recognize and treat what is a legitimate diagnosis of the American Psychological Association:  Gender Identity Disorder. Filmmaker Dan Hunt participates in the post-screening Q&A with Equality Maryland Board Member Dr. Dana Beyer; Z. Gabriel Arkles of the Sylvia Rivera Law Project; and Sandi Rawls, a transgender ex-offender. Local radio talk show host Anthony McCarthy moderates. Equality Maryland co-sponsors the screening.

Views of Justice Film Series:

New Documentary Exploring America's Criminal Justice System
Thu Oct 27 Cruel and Unusual w/ Director Dan Hunt IN PERSON
Screening begins at 8:00 pm. Doors open at 7pm

$8, or $5 for Creative Alliance members
Creative Alliance at The Patterson
3134 Eastern Ave
Baltimore, MD 21224 (in Highlandtown!)
Info: www.creativealliance.org, 410-276-1651
Adv tickets available at The Patterson and www.missiontix.com

For more information, contact Paul Santomenna, Views of Justice Series Coordinator
paul@megaphoneproject.org 410-338-0946