Every year, there are many worthy films released focused on violence against women. In the upcoming weeks, two such films-- Who Cares?and Sex Crime Unit-- will be playing at local theaters through the Vancouver Documentary Festival. Make sure to check them out!
WHO CARES?
Director: Rosie Dransfeld, Canada, 2012
76 mins
Prostitutes in Canada are classified as “a high risk of homicide group.” As a result, sex trade workers in Edmonton are cooperating with local police and volunteering samples of their own DNA. The goal is to create a database that will expedite the identification of bodies of murdered and missing women. Structured around the RCMP’s Project KARE, woman after woman enters the mobile police unit’s SUV. Once inside, she is asked to provide a sample of hair and some next-of-kin information. Aware that her next date might be her last, she usually obliges. The officer explains that she’s doing a good thing; her family will have some closure with a positive identification. The level of despair in their exchange is palpable. Rosie Dransfeld’s remarkable street-level documentary demands that viewers check their apathy at the door and start caring about the precarious existence of sex trade workers in this country. (Summary from DOXA Festival Website)
Wednesday May 9 | 7:00 PM | Vancity Theatre
http://www.doxafestival.ca/festival/films/who_cares
http://www.hotdocs.ca//film/title/who_cares
SEX CRIMES UNIT
Director: Lisa F. Jackson, USA, 2010
86 mins
One of the first of its kind, the Sex Crimes Unit in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office changed the way that rape was prosecuted in the US. Lisa F. Jackson’s revelatory documentary is on the ground and in the trenches with the men and women whose job it is to prosecute and convict rapists. (Summary from DOXA Festival Website)
Tuesday May 8 | 6:00 PM | Pacific Cinémathèque
http://www.doxafestival.ca/festival/films/sex_crimes