When an unlikely duo discovers women in prison are being illegally sterilized, they wage an impossible battle against the Department of Corrections. Filmed over seven years with intimate accounts from current and formerly incarcerated women, Belly of the Beast addresses this modern fight for reproductive justice while confronting more than a century of eugenics. Featuring riveting first-hand accounts, expert testimony, and archival footage, director Erika Cohn delivers an urgent and convincing case against the systems where these atrocities take place, but also a wake up call for those of us who are too busy to do something about it.
Bio
Director / Producer Erika Cohn is an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning director/producer who Variety recognized as one of 2017’s top documentary filmmakers to watch. Most recently, Erika completed THE JUDGE, a Peabody Award-winning film about the first woman judge appointed to the Middle East’s Shari’a courts, which premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival and was broadcast on PBS’ 2018 Independent Lens series.