Defending Our Lives

UK (1993): Documentary/Short

This film presents the testimony of women who have been imprisoned for killing their batterers. Domestic violence is the single greatest cause of injury to women, age 15 to 44, but there are more animal-protection shelters in this country than there are shelters for women who are the victims of domestic violence. The women in this documentary are members of Battered Women Fighting Back!, an organization dedicated to exposing the problem as a critical human rights violation. These are women who were forced to defend their lives, and who, having done so, often found themselves victimized again, this time by the criminal justice system. Through the voices of women imprisoned for killing their batterers, this video exposes the magnitude and severity of domestic violence -- and forcefully conveys the devastation of violence on women and the internal power it takes to fight back. (Northern Arizona University)

· Best Achievement in Documentary Short Subjects 1993: Margaret Lazarus & Renner Wunderlich - Producers

1 nomination, 1 Award