Oakland University's Women and Gender Studies Program to Screen HBO Documentary SUITED

For its 33rd annual film festival, Oakland University's Women and Gender Studies program will spotlight the HBO documentary 'Suited.' The festival screening will take place from noon -3 p.m. on Saturday, January 21, in room 201 in Dodge Hall, on OU's campus.

The film follows the journey of a handful of customers at Bindle & Keep, a Brooklyn tailoring company that caters to a diverse LGBTQ community. The company creates custom-made suits for gender-nonconforming and transgender clients as they look beyond the gender binary.

Going deeper than the fabrics being created, 'Suited' takes a modern, evolved look at gender through the conduit of clothing and sheds light on the private and emotional experience surrounding each subject's personal narrative.

"The film is an upbeat documentary geared towards raising awareness about experiences of some people who identify as transgender or genderqueer, and about the importance of supporting people of all genders," said Ami Harbin, Ph.D., assistant professor in Women and Gender Studies and chair of the film festival planning committee. "That is consistent with our work in Women and Gender Studies at OU, and we think the film will open up a lively and thought-provoking discussion."

The film screening will be followed by a panel discussion with students and professors about media representation, university life, health care and legal resources for trans* individuals and communities.

Panelists include:

- Dr. Kathleen Battles, Associate Professor, Department of Communication & Journalism, Oakland University
- Jake Semma, Oakland University student, Student Assistant at OU Gender and Sexuality Center
- Morgan Shaw-Andrade, Transcend the Binary (Ferndale)
- Aiden Ramirez-Tatum, Spectrum Center (University of Michigan)

The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided. For more information, call (248) 370-2154 or visit the Women and Gender Studies website at oakland.edu/wgs.

This year's event is sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences, Modern Languages and Literatures, Cinema Studies, English, Communication and Journalism, History, Philosophy, Political Science, Center for Ethics, Sociology, Anthropology, Social Work & Criminal Justice, the OU Libraries, WXOU radio and The Oakland Post.

Through its interdisciplinary orientation linking the humanities, social sciences and health sciences, Women and Gender Studies enables people of all genders to work together to promote social justice.