Description:

Annie May Swift Hall Auditorium

Thursday, January 23 

6pm – reception

6:30pm – screening

How can you tell stories in collaboration with incarcerated individuals and portray them in their full humanity? Told with great sensitivity, this program features four short documentary portraits, several of them exploring the ripple effects of incarceration on families. Made in collaboration between Northwestern University’s Medill students and incarcerated students, the short films were produced in Professor Brent Huffman’s Documenting Carceral Injustice course, held at Sheridan Correctional Center. The class is part of the Northwestern Prison Education Program (NPEP) which provides a high-quality liberal arts education to incarcerated students in Illinois, the only bachelor’s degree-granting program for incarcerated students offered by a top 10 university in the United States.

The screening will be followed by a discussion that will touch on trauma and the carceral system and the importance of holding space for someone’s story. Panelists will include Northwestern Professor Brent Huffman, Director of Documentary Journalism at Medill, student filmmakers, and others. 

Please join us for a reception with snacks and beverages before the screening at 6pm in Annie May Swift Hall, 1920 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208. Link to interactive campus map. Complimentary parking in the open air lot after 4pm. 

PROGRAM: 

Jeffrey, Come Home

By Jankhna Sura and Esther Lim

Jeffery Campbell has served 24 years of a 47-year sentence for a crime he knows he didn’t commit. Driven by his desire to reunite with his family, he applies for two legal processes that could bring him closer to freedom.

Hey Hugo

By Annie Xia and Ysa Quiballo

A film about a son who loves his mom, and the family who wants him to come home.

Dear Hillary

By Douglas Lee and Luis Castaneda

As teenagers, Mark Dixon and Leon Fields were sentenced to extensive sentences during the “Super Predator” hysteria, years later they’re preparing to fight the myth that put them behind bars. 

Until You Come Home

By Sophia Jackson and Zella Milfred

A documentary about Michael Ortega’s wrongful incarceration and the impact that this unjust physical absence has had on his family.