FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, October 23, 2009

CONTACT: Warren Woodberry Jr., 917-519-7745, mail (at) wnaconsulting.com

***MEDIA ADVISORY***

“WOMEN’S PRISON” TO SCREEN AT ILLINOIS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Feature film to debut by filmmaker Katie Madonna Lee

(ST. CHARLES, IL) – “Women’s Prison”, the debut feature film by Katie Madonna Lee, will be featured at the Illinois International Film Festival, screening at Arcadia Theatre in St. Charles Friday, October 23th, 2009 at 1:00 p.m.

“Women’s Prison” (105 minutes) is the story about a young woman named Julie Ann Mabry who is confronted by a life of hardship and poverty after her mother is murdered by her father.

Julie Ann is taken in by her Evangelical relatives, and she begins to adopt new convictions in an effort to reconnect with her mother. Slowly, the threads of her new life begin to unravel and Julie Ann is sent to prison. It is there she finds the freedom and community she had sought so long, yet it does not come without a price.

Lee, a New York City-based filmmaker, spent five years researching for the script, interviewing women in homeless shelters and prisons. She shot the film in South Bend, Indiana, a city riff with poverty and a hostile atmosphere.
Lee molded non-actors into actors, knowing that they would bring their experiences and presence to the characters. However, while shooting "Woman's Prison", too often the world of the film and reality blurred. Actresses would not show up to set because their boyfriends "did not want them to do it anymore." Stage mothers were in physically abusive relationships with men who bullied them. And the filmmakers were naive to think that they would be spared this degrading treatment. To Lee’s worried mind, "Woman's Prison" would not be a self contained project.

To learn more about “Women’s Prison” visit, womansprisonmovie.com/

WHO: Katie Madonna Lee, filmmaker

WHEN: Friday, October 23th, 2009, 1:00 PM

WHERE: Arcadia Theatre, 105 E Main St., St Charles, IL 60174-1927, (630) 587-8400

###