BELLY OF THE BEAST Director, Erika Cohn, Talks Eugenics & The Sterilization of Women Prisoners on Tom Needham’s SOUNDS OF FILM – Broadway World

Emmy Award-winning director/producer, Erika Cohn, joins Tom Needham for a shocking conversation about BELLY OF THE BEAST, a film about the mass sterilization of women of color in California's prison system on this Thursday's SOUNDS OF FILM.

When a courageous young woman and a radical lawyer discover a pattern of illegal involuntary sterilizations in California's women's prison system, they take to the courtroom to wage a near-impossible battle against the Department of Corrections. With a growing team of investigators inside prison working with colleagues on the outside, they uncover a series of statewide crimes - from dangerously inadequate health care to sexual assault to coercive sterilizations - primarily targeting women of color. But no one believes them. This shocking legal drama captured over seven years features extraordinary access and intimate accounts from currently and formerly incarcerated women, demanding our attention to a shameful and ongoing legacy of eugenics and reproductive injustice in the United States.

Tom Needham's SOUNDS OF FILM is the nation's longest running film and music themed radio show. For the past 30 years, the program has delivered a popular mix of interviews and music to listeners all over Long Island, parts of Connecticut and streaming live worldwide on the internet. Past people interviewed for the show include Kenneth Lonergan, Mike Leigh, Wallace Shawn, William H. Macy, Peter Yarrow, Melanie, Dionne Warwick, and Don McLean.

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BELLY OF THE BEAST Director, Erika Cohn, Talks Eugenics & The Sterilization of Women Prisoners on Tom Needham's SOUNDS OF FILM - Broadway World