BENEATH THE BLINDFOLD
Four Survivors, One Truth: This Should Not Happen To Anyone

The event includes a screening of the film (55 mins.) followed by a Q&A with filmmakers Kathy Berger and Ines Sommer and Maria Venegas, a survivor featured in the film.

A nursing home aide from Africa. An actor from Colombia. A U.S. Navy veteran from Chicago. A physician from Guatemala. So different at first glance, they have a horrific experience in common: they all have been tortured. Rarely given a voice, they are among the 500,000 torture survivors who live in the U.S. Co-directed by Chicago filmmakers Kathy Berger and Ines Sommer, Beneath the Blindfold (2012) follows four survivors through the daunting steps of building new lives, careers, and relationships. And despite the continued psychological and physical fallout from their experience, they feel empowered to speak out and become public advocates for an end to torture.
Named “Best Political Documentary of 2012” by the Chicago Reader, the film takes an unflinching look at the consequences of torture through the eyes of survivors while also celebrating their ability to regain agency and hope.

This event is part of the Bodies of Work Festival of Disability Arts and Culture. www.bodiesofworkchicago.org