Beyond
Inmates at Sing Sing prison share their passions, thoughts, and aspirations in a unique speaking event.
The Feminist on Cellblock Y
A convicted felon builds a feminist movement from behind bars at an all-male prison in Soledad, California.
1275 Days
After a botched home invasion, 15-year-old Blake finds himself facing a virtual life prison sentence for Felony Murder. With the unwavering support of his single mother and teenage girlfriend, a David-and-Goliath uphill battle ensues in Elkhart, Indiana. They take on the system in hopes of a second chance.
.dog
Young Dimitris, on the verge of manhood yet very much a child, has romanticized his imprisoned father to mythic proportions. When he gets released after ten years, Dimitris cannot wait to finally know him and make up for lost time. But when his father reveals his true nature, Dimitris must face a great dilemma: will his need of belonging prevail over his sense of justice?
The Big House
Convicted of manslaughter for a drunken driving accident, Kent Marlowe is sent to prison, where he meets vicious incarcerated figures who are planning an escape from the brutal conditions.
Never Heard
After Aaron is charged with murder, he uses the power of prayer to help prove his innocence turning his life around and saving his son Jalen from the street life before it is too late.
Concrete Night
A 14-year-old boy in a stifling Helsinki slum takes some unwise life lessons from his soon-to-be-incarcerated older brother.
Prison and Time
Formerly incarcerated writer Marvin Wade speaks personally about his 25 years in prison and the positive transformation he achieved in spite of, not because of, the criminal legal system around him.
Brother, Where Are You?
Two brothers, separated by time and prison bars, reestablish contact. Inspired by James Baldwin's short story, 'Sonny's Blues.'
No Witness but the Mountains
The film is set in a small, snow-covered mountain village in Kurdistan. We follow a young woman, Helin, who wants to discover her family history. She lives with her mother, Susika, who has not spoken since her husband was arrested and imprisoned by the Turkish authorities. She cannot write or read either. Helin wants nothing more than to find out the story of her father. It is a story of how political oppression of a people and culture impacts that community, how it silences people, and about human resilience. Keeping a culture alive is a form of resistance.
Halfway Home: A Father's Story
A father exits prison and tries to integrate with his two children and girlfriend while living in a halfway house and on parole.
The Black Stain
Marlene's journey is one of rediscovery. Once she saw darkness as the truest reflection of her soul—a place of comfort and identity. But life's trials reshaped her understanding, transforming that darkness into a wellspring of resilience, insight, and unexpected strength.
North by Current
Filmmaker Angelo Madsen Minax returns to his rural Michigan hometown following the death of his infant niece and the subsequent arrest of his brother-in-law as the culprit. Using the audio-visual approaches of essay film, first-person cinema vérité, staged actions, and decades of home movies, Madsen navigates a town steeped in opioid addiction, economic depression, and religious fervor, while using the act of filmmaking to rebuild familial bonds and reimagine justice. Posing empathy as a tool for creating a more just world, North By Current does not seek to investigate a crime, but creates a relentless portrait of an enduring pastoral family, poised to reframe and reimagine narratives about incarceration, addiction, trans embodiment, and ruralness.
Make Him Known
Over the course of more than a decade, 4-time WNBA champion and Olympic Gold medalist Maya Moore and her family have been fighting for the release of a wrongfully convicted man named Jonathan Irons. This short film intimately follows Moore as she embarks on a road trip from Atlanta, GA to Jefferson City, MO to bring home the man who, after 23 years behind bars, has not only become a part of her family, but has also strengthened her faith and inspired her pursuit of criminal justice reform.
Hell
Chennu committed his first crime when he was 15 years old: being a street kid. And he entered hell: Pademba Road. The adult prison in Freetown. In hell, Mr. Sillah is in charge, and there is no hope. Chennu got out after four years. Now he wants to go back.
Thug Life in D.C.
Aundrey Burno, a black youth looking down the wrong end of a murder charge -- for which a conviction could result in a lifetime in prison -- appears to be the epitome of an unrepentant thug. Speaking to viewers, he claims to have done whatever was necessary to survive on the mean streets, to earn the respect of his criminal peers. But as his case progresses and his younger brother, Kevin, faces the same choices he did -- to become a thug or not -- a very different Aundrey reveals himself.
Cyanide
Achille, 13, awaits, full of hope, the release from prison of his father, unknown and fantasized. His dream of living as a threesome, like a real family, will be seriously undermined by a mother exhausted from waiting and this father who is unsuitable and made irresponsible by so many years of incarceration. Will this vulnerable person with a flamboyant past be able to keep the promise he made to his son to never live apart from him again?
True Justice: Bryan Stevenson's Fight for Equality
An intimate portrait of Alabama public interest attorney Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, who for more than three decades has advocated on behalf of the poor, the incarcerated and the condemned, seeking to eradicate racial discrimination in the criminal justice system.
Turned Out: Sexual Assault Behind Bars
A look beyond the shock and inhumanity of prison rape to the intricate social hierarchy that keeps it alive. A filmmaker goes deep inside Alabama's infamous Limestone penitentiary to uncover the long-term causes and consequences of prison rape. With a startling lack of inhibition, five inmates reveal the workings of an elaborate inner society.
The Bird Who Could Fly
Arthur, a young Korean-American, tries to manage one brother, sentenced to spend his life in jail; his other brother, a drug addict; and pressure from their Korean-born mother.