Official Selections

 Advocacy is Life or Death follows an advocate for young women and girls experiencing sexual violence and trauma who finds herself navigating a bureaucratic system that refuses to question the status quo. This leads to her losing her job, which has a devastating effect on clients.

The film speaks to the vision for a system that recognizes the inherent dignity of women and girls who have experienced sexual violence, prioritizes their healing, and dismantles the systemic barriers that perpetuate their victimization.

Alongside the film, this campaign calls for urgent, trauma-informed policy changes, including ending the detention of trafficking survivors and children who have experienced abuse, and a shift to survivor-led solutions.
 

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Angelique Todd, Director

Angelique Todd is a dynamic entrepreneur and passionate advocate for social and economic empowerment. As the owner of Next Level Business Services and Solutions, she leads a consulting firm dedicated to helping individuals and small businesses build strong foundations through strategic planning, business coaching, and credit repair services. With a focus on sustainability and financial literacy, Angelique equips her clients with the tools to grow and thrive in today’s competitive market.

In addition to her business leadership, Angelique is the Founder of WE WIN Organization, a nonprofit committed to empowering socially, economically, and justice-impacted women. Through mentorship, outreach, and intensive case management, WE WIN fosters resilience, self-sufficiency, and lasting change for women striving to reclaim their lives.

With a unique blend of business acumen and community advocacy, Angelique is driven by a mission to uplift, educate, and inspire transformation at every level.

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 And Water Brings Tomorrow follows formerly incarcerated people who are leading efforts to close down prisons and replace them with new networks of care, harm reduction, and a national call to redefine what “safety” means. Stories of a campaign to close prisons in California, of an interfaith pilgrimage to close immigrant detention centers in the Southwest, and an effort to halt a new prison from being built in Appalachian coal country, each is woven between meditative portraits of prisons across the U.S. that have been shuttered and turned into museums, restorative justice centers, tourism hubs and anonymous ruins. With themes of grief, beauty, historical memory, and our power to overcome our circumstances and remake the world together, the film asks what it takes to reckon with the catastrophe of mass incarceration — bringing a needed attention to its ongoing damage and the visions to build beyond it. 

Ashley Hunt, Director

Autumn is a moving exploration of an often-overlooked fallout of incarceration: its devastating impact on children with parents behind bars. Drawing on filmmaker Autumn Mason’s own experience of incarceration, including interviews with her family and expert insights, Autumn makes a case for the power of familial connection, and the need to explore alternatives to incarceration to keep families intact. 

The film sheds light on the trauma of separation experienced by children and primary caregivers, particularly mothers, and underscores the need for community-based alternatives that prioritize healing over punishment. 

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Autumn Mason, Director 

Breaking Barriers follows a group of system-impacted students at Cal-Berkeley who face significant challenges as formerly incarcerated and system-impacted individuals pursuing higher education.

The film also highlights the importance of policy change to dismantle systemic barriers and support education for the formerly incarcerated.

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Kristel Cosio, Director

Dara and Tommy change their life trajectories after their Life Without Parole (LWOP) sentences are commuted. This is a story about the life long road towards redemption. 

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Thaisan Nguon, Director

A survivor of the Cambodian genocide, U.S. immigration policy and Life Without Parole, Thaisan Nguon strives to keep families together and to #EndLWOP. He grew up in Long Beach, CA as the second oldest of 10 siblings and is a current member of the National LWOP Leadership Council. 

Disrupted: Injustice, Trauma, and Healing is a portrait of Philadelphia through the lens of race, class and incarceration. The enduring legacy of slavery is an American story, but John sees community building and policy as a way towards healing for system impacted individuals and the people who love them.  

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John Pace, Director 

John Pace is a Philadelphia-based educator and reentry specialist who works with young people and their families and advocates for higher education in prison. He currently serves as the Senior Reentry Coordinator at the Youth Sentencing & Reentry Project (YSRP) and a Program Associate for the Inside-Out Prison Exchange at Temple University.  

A look into the first record label in America for formerly and currently incarcerated musicians, what started as a one album project called Die Jim Crow and became what is now FREER Records. The film follows a young artist/activist and New Yorker, Fury Young - who also directs - in his journey of discovering a lifelong passion in a world he is an outsider to, and an unlikely confidante in BL Shirelle, first an artist and then Co-Director of this groundbreaking label.

Freer Records

Fury Young, Director 

When incarcerated individuals approach death after decades behind bars what is the purpose of keeping them incarcerated? What is our responsibility?

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Thanh Tran, Director

Thanh Tran is an Amerasian-Vietnamese and Black filmmaker, music artist, and community organizer from Sacramento. While incarcerated at San Quentin, he co-founded Uncuffed, an award-winning podcast, and ForwardThis Productions, a trailblazing film collective. He is also the co-founder of New Krma Collective, a creative label and mutual aid network that supports directly impacted artists through music, film, and activism. Thanh now directs Finding Má, a feature documentary tracing his family’s search for their unhoused mother after years of separation through the foster care and prison systems. He serves as a Program Manager for the San Quentin Film Festival managing the Returning Filmmaker Fellowship and sits on advisory council for the New Breath Foundation. Through storytelling, advocacy, and music, he works to shift dominant narratives around race, incarceration, and migration. His work has been supported by the Sundance Institute, Ford Foundation, and Creative Capital to name a few.

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EXODUS is an intimate portrait of two women who face unique challenges following decades of incarceration. The film bears witness to their impassioned attempts to rebuild their lives and ultimately restore their humanity.

Nimco Sheikhaden, Director 

Official Site

After 20 years apart, an Amerasian Vietnamese and Black family shattered by the foster care and prison systems reunite to heal old wounds and rebuild their family, starting with finding their unhoused mother in the streets of Sacramento. 

Thanh Tran, Director 

Thanh Tran is an Amerasian-Vietnamese and Black filmmaker, music artist, and community organizer from Sacramento. While incarcerated at San Quentin, he co-founded Uncuffed, an award-winning podcast, and ForwardThis Productions, a trailblazing film collective. He is also the co-founder of New Krma Collective, a creative label and mutual aid network that supports directly impacted artists through music, film, and activism. Thanh now directs Finding Má, a feature documentary tracing his family’s search for their unhoused mother after years of separation through the foster care and prison systems. He serves as a Program Manager for the San Quentin Film Festival managing the Returning Filmmaker Fellowship and sits on advisory council for the New Breath Foundation. Through storytelling, advocacy, and music, he works to shift dominant narratives around race, incarceration, and migration. His work has been supported by the Sundance Institute, Ford Foundation, and Creative Capital to name a few. 

Hidden Blueprints, is a hybrid short film detailing the history and creation of a collection of wood-scrollwork that was designed and hidden in prison. It tells the story of a champion fighting mantis named Mikey that won all of its fights, only to become an enduring myth after being martyred in a corporate prison riot. 

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JLee Mackenzie, Director 

Jeremy Lee MacKenzie is a filmmaker and artist who turned to art & film after being incarcerated for bank robbery and drug trafficking as a teenager. While serving time in the Lee Adjustment Center, a Corrections Corporation of America prison in KY, he was in the riot that burned the prison in 2004. In the wake of the riot he designed the intricate art collection "Hidden Blueprints" which premiered at the Flynn Center for Performing Arts and the Vermont State Capitol in 2015. Following his premiere, Jeremy went on to be admitted as a Screenwriting Fellow to Stowe Story Labs, and won Gold in the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards for his screenplay "Flicker." In 2017, Jeremy graduated from Champlain College earning his BFA in Creative Media, then directed his film "Hidden Blueprints: The Story of Mikey" and was awarded the James Goldstone Emerging Filmmaker Award by the Vermont International Film Foundation. In 2018, Jeremy was admitted to USC School of Cinematic Arts in LA, where he is pursuing his MFA on a George Lucas Scholarship.

It's Not Okay is a spoken word short film that challenges the polished narratives of post-incarceration success. Set in an empty warehouse, the film features Heather — a formerly incarcerated woman — dressed in a floor-length gown and speaking her raw, rhythmic truth into a vintage microphone under a single spotlight. Her poem, equal parts confessional and defiant, dismantles the pressure to be the “perfect reentry story.”
As she performs, the piece is punctuated by real, documentary-style footage from her actual reentry journey: emotional reunions, silent breakdowns, moments of joy, shame, doubt, and survival. These flashes of reality interrupt the performance, revealing that the recovery and reintegration process is far from linear or clean.
With each stanza, Heather unravels the myth of redemption and exposes the complicated emotional terrain of life after prison. It's Not Okay is not a story of resolution — it’s a story of reckoning.

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Heather C Jarvis, Director 

"Processing" is a short film that merges the grit of documentary storytelling with the expressive power of dance to explore the untold stories of women of color awaiting release from prison. Through the lens of Sky, a woman sitting in a holding cell that doubles as a therapy room, the film invites viewers into a haunting, reflective journey. Sky confronts the echoes of her past—both the light and the dark—while preparing to reenter a world that may not be ready for her.

The narrative is woven with the real voices of Lessa, Precious, and Shani, whose lived experiences amplify Sky’s story. Two evocative dance sequences, set against stark visuals of graffiti-laden concrete rooms, decaying prison cells, abandoned warehouses, and a hollow classroom, visualize the entanglement of the prison, healthcare, and education systems.

Through the persistent mantra, “Don’t get silent,” Processing highlights the bravery required to speak up in a world where safety and protection are not guaranteed. The film ultimately serves as a call to action: See the system, change the system, abolish the system. It urges communities to create brave spaces where women can share their truths, craft equitable solutions, and dismantle the cycles of harm that make re-entry such a formidable challenge.

Antwan "Banks" Williams, Director

Antwan "Banks" Williams is a multidisciplinary artist and educator whose work in music, audio, and film is driven by a passion for social justice and equity. Drawing inspiration from his transformative journey as an incarcerated artist and activist, he uses storytelling to foster community empowerment.

As the co-creator of the award-winning podcast Ear Hustle, Williams offered a unique perspective on the incarcerated experience. His artistic range is further showcased through his work as a composer for the film 26.2 To Life, a noteworthy art exhibition at the University of San Francisco entitled “A Matter of Liberation,” and as a published photographer.

Beyond his artistic pursuits, Williams is a dedicated educator and mentor. He serves as a community specialist and DEI facilitator in California high schools, sharing his knowledge to inspire youth to unlock their potential through creativity and critical thinking.

Official Site

Overcome by abuse, a teenage black boy is forced to choose between pulling the trigger or not in an effort to protect himself. In turn, we are split between two realities of fate - the dream or a dream deferred.

D'Angelo "D'Lo" Louis, Director

D’Angelo “D’Lo” Louis is a writer, director, and producer from Richmond, California, whose journey is a testament to resilience and the transformative power of storytelling. Raised amidst financial hardship, his youth was cut short by a decade-long sentence in California’s correctional system. It was in this unlikely setting, encouraged by a filmmaker friend, that his creative spirit flourished. His pen danced across pages, and he discovered the profound symbolism of mirrors as a tool for confronting one's truth, a philosophy that would define his future work.

Released in August 2018, D’Lo immediately pivoted to the world of cinema. The same friend who inspired him to write offered him an entry into the industry, and within five months, D’Lo was working as a director’s and producer’s assistant on major projects like BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER and SPACE JAM: A NEW LEGACY. His unique perspective, molded by his past, infuses his work with authenticity and themes of redemption.

Today, D’Lo serves as a Creative Executive at Proximity Media. His diverse roles include ensuring authenticity on JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH and earning an Associate Producer credit on CREED III. He has also contributed to the soundtracks for both CREED III and BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER, directs music videos, and manages artists. D’Lo’s narrative from Richmond to Hollywood is a powerful reminder that within every adversity lies the seed of unparalleled artistry.

Witness the power of silence as it speaks volumes in this thought-provoking trilogy of short films. Delve into the depths of the justice system as it confronts its own injustices, unearthing the dark underbelly of humanity in the process. Film #2: The Indictment follows the perspective of the Prosecutor. Prepare to delve into the complex world of prosecutor discretion and qualified immunity in this thought-provoking film. A newly appointed prosecutor takes on the challenges of Franklin County. Dennis is faced with a critical decision that could shape his future. On one hand, he has the opportunity to advance his career by prosecuting Lyric to the fullest extent of the law. On the other hand, he must trust his instincts and potentially jeopardize his entire professional trajectory.

Kamisha Thomas, Director

Kamisha Thomas, a multidisciplinary artist from Columbus, Ohio, draws inspiration from her personal experiences as a second-generation survivor of the carceral system. After serving seven and a half years in prison, she co-founded the Returning Artists Guild (RAG) with Aimee Wissman to sustain the sense of community she found in prison arts programs. A passionate advocate for prison abolition and artist empowerment, Kamisha has received the Art for Justice and Right of Return grants for her work. She is committed to amplifying marginalized voices and creating art that challenges societal norms. Through her practice, she explores the therapeutic power of artistic expression while using it as a tool to dismantle systems of oppression, particularly those targeting Black and Brown communities