In 1994, twelve Black women gathered in Chicago and founded the reproductive justice movement. Naming themselves Women of African Descent for Reproductive Justice, they organized around three fundamental principles: the right to have children, to not have children, and to create and care for families in safe and healthy environments. Now, 25 years later, Cinema 53 partners with the Chicago Abortion Fund to commemorate the creation of that powerful framework and consider the complex experiences that inform these basic rights today. This three-part series of films and conversation brings together organizers, scholars, artists, and health workers to view ground-breaking features and explore the critical inheritance and vital future of global “RJ.”
“Your choices are only as good as your options.” Facing an $8000 bill for prenatal care or an abortion hundreds of miles away, Deb (Lily James) teams up with her sister Ollie (Tessa Thompson) on a border-crossing, drug-running, last-chance scheme to survive in the midst of the opioid crisis, in this acclaimed first feature by writer/director Nia DaCosta. Followed by conversation with Brittany Mostiller, former executive director of Chicago Abortion Fund, moderated by Quenna Lené Barrett, theater performer, director and writer. (Nia DaCosta, 2019, 105min)
Harper Theater, 5238 S Harper
Admission is free and open to the public. Seating is first-come, first-seated. Doors open at 6:45pm.
Brittany Mostiller is an award-winning reproductive justice storyteller and consultant, and the former executive director of the Chicago Abortion Fund.
The Chicago Abortion Fund (CAF) advances reproductive autonomy and justice for everyone by providing financial, logistical, and emotional support to people seeking abortion services and by building collective power and fostering partnerships for political and cultural change. Founded in 1985, CAF affirms a person's right to choose whether to parent or not and that right should not be determined because of age, race, marital status - and most importantly, economic status.
Cinema 53 is a partnership between the historic Harper Theater in downtown
Hyde Park and UChicago’s Arts + Public Life. The fall 2019 series is
presented with generous support from UChicago’s Center for the Study of Race,
Politics and Culture and Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality.
Date: December 12, 2019
Time: 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Date: December 12, 2019
Time: 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM