[Imc-newsroom] Press Release

[Ruqaiyah Khadijah Morris]

For Immediate Release 
For Further Information:
Kiah Morris
217.333.3137
rkmorris at uiuc.edu

Controversial, Explosive, Award-Winning Documentary "War Zone" Chronicles Sexual Harassment on the Streets of America

Champaign, Il (April 14, 2003) --Filmmaker, writer and director Maggie Hadleigh-West will host a screening and discussion of her award-winning documentary "War Zone" as a part of the University of Illinois' Sexual Assault Awareness Month (April) activities.  "War Zone", is a documentary about the public harassment of women, which she has defined as "street abuse".  See what happens when one woman turns the camera on the men who catcall, whistle and make sexually provocative comments to her on the street.  

	Hadleigh-West turns the camera on men the way they turn their aggression on her.  In order to capture the explosive footage in the film, the filmmaker put herself in very real danger to confront over 1,000 men who engage her in a sexual way.  In the process, she was yelled at, apologized to and pulled into incredible conversations with the men who harassed her.  

	"I know that with some men, when they are aggressive with women on the street, it is absolutely about power", Hadleigh-West says.  "But I think some men are sincerely confused and think they are being nice.  What they are really doing is stamping us as property and telling us our privacy is worthless."
-more	Maggie Hadleigh-West has appeared on numerous national and international television and radio programs to talk about Street Abuse, including ABC´s news magazine show 20/20, The Today Show, CBS News, Eye to Eye with Connie Chung, BBC, NPR, and CNN.  Articles on Hadleigh-West have been published in such periodicals as USA Today, New York Times, San Francisco Examiner, NY Observer, Village Voice, New York Daily News, Ms. Magazine, Glamour Magazine, London Times, South African Elle, the Swedish papers Astonbladet and Dagens Nyheter and Australia´s Exposure Magazine.  Her work was chosen for the United Nations 4th World International Women´s Conference in Beijing, China, the Hirshhorn Museum of the Smithsonian Institute, as well as many universities, galleries and film festivals both domestically and internationally. 

Maggie Hadleigh-West received a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in Visual Communications from George Washington University.  She also holds a Master of Fine Arts with a Merit Award from the School of Visual Arts in New York City.  She currently resides in New York City.

This event will take place on Wednesday, April 16, 2003 at 7:00 p.m. at the Levis Faculty Center at 919 W. Illinois, Urbana.  Hadleigh-West will introduce the film and conduct discussion afterwards.

This event is free of charge and open to the public.  All members of the press are welcome to attend. 

To schedule an interview with Maggie Hadleigh-West, contact Kiah Morris at 333-3137 prior to April 11, 2003.  

For more info on all SAAM events, visit our online calendar at www.odos.uiuc.edu/women


Kiah Morris
Office of Women's Programs
University of Illinois
Ph: 217.333.3137
Fax: 217.333.7366
"Rape is to sexuality what hitting someone over the head with a frying pan is to cooking."