openDemocracy & The Tedworth Charitable Trust

...in association with Exile Nation Media...

present

The Exile Nation Project:

An Oral History of the War on Drugs & the American Criminal Justice System

a film by Charles Shaw

Please join us at the Historic Portage Theatre for a screening of The Exile Nation Project.  There will be a reception preceding the screening and Q & A to follow with Charles Shaw, Dan Linn & Julie Falco (Illinois Medical Cannabis Lobbyists), and Dimitri Mobengo Mugianis, an ibogaine detox provider who was recently arrested by the DEA. Hosted by the Chicago Consciousness Cafe & Illinois NORML.

Monday May 2nd
7:30pm-11pm
The Portage Theatre
4050 N. Milwaukee Ave
Chicago, IL 60641

“Like” us on Facebook:
http://on.fb.me/fsvWVy

Suggested donation: $30 - $10 (no one turned away for lack of funds)

View the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa6Ed3Fb_ps

About the project:

The Land of the Free punishes or imprisons more of its citizens than any other country. This collection of testimonials from criminal offenders, family members, and experts on America’s criminal justice system puts a human face on the millions of Americans subjugated by the US Government's 40 year, one trillion dollar social catastrophe: The War on Drugs; a failed policy underscored by fear, politics, racial prejudice and intolerance in a public atmosphere of "out of sight, out of mind."

The United States has only 5% of the world's population, yet a full 25% of the world's prisoners. At 2.5 million, the US has more prisoners than China. 8 million more languish under some form of state monitoring (1 in every 31 Americans). On top of that, the security and livelihood of over 13 million more has forever been altered by a felony conviction. The American use of punishment is so pervasive, and so disproportionate, that The Economist magazine declared in 2010, "never in the civilized world have so many been locked up for so little."

To further support The Exile Nation Project, please make a donation to our Kickstarter campaign:  http://kck.st/dVKDLD  Every little bit helps get the word out to more people.

The Exile Nation Project is not just one film - it’s an online archive of interviews, short films, and other features that will grow over the next two years. Our generous foundation grant got us off the ground and helped us make the first film, but we need to raise $7,000 by the end of May to meet our goal for Phase 2 of the project.

The funds we raise will help us hold screenings in cities across the U.S. this year, as well as allow us to continue the process of collecting the testimonies that are the heart and soul of Exile Nation.

When the stories hit home, people get involved, and policy can finally begin to change. It is our greatest hope that once these voices find a broader audience, people of the US will feel compelled to pressure the government to change these unfair policies and end the era of prohibition and mass incarceration.

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The Exile Nation Project is made possible by a generous grant from the Tedworth Charitable Trust and openDemocracy, in association with Exile Nation Media. All content is non-commercial and available for free distribution under a Creative Commons license.

Written, Produced & Directed by Charles Shaw

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About the Director:

Charles Shaw is an award-winning journalist, author of the critically-acclaimed memoir, Exile Nation: Drugs, Prisons, Politics & Spirituality, and Director of the documentary film, The Exile Nation Project: An Oral History of the War on Drugs & the American Criminal Justice System.

Charles serves as Editor for the openDemocracy Drug Policy Forum and the Dictionary of Ethical Politics, both collaborative projects of Resurgence, openDemocracy, and the Tedworth Charitable Trust.

Charles' work has appeared in Alternet, Alternative Press Review, Conscious Choice, Common Ground, Grist, Guardian UK, Huffington Post, In These Times, Newtopia, The New York Times, openDemocracy, Planetizen, Punk Planet, Reality Sandwich, San Diego Uptown News, Scoop, Shift, Truthout, The Witness, YES!, and Znet. He was a Contributing Author to the 2008 Shift Report from the Institute for Noetic Sciences, and in Planetizen's Contemporary Debates in Urban Planning (2007, Island Press). In 2009 he was recognized by the San Diego Press Club for excellence in journalism.