Our short documentary Degrees of Freedom premiered at the Dances With Films Festival in NYC in December 2024 and screened at the LA festival this month
On Tuesday, June 24, our short documentary Degrees of Freedom screened at the Dances With Films Festival in Los Angeles. The Festival and screening took place at the iconic TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, CA. The short documentary had previously premiered at the New York Dances With Films Festival in December 2024 at Regal Cinemas in Union Square, and afterwards we were invited to submit to the LA festival as well.
We screened in a short documentary block with three other incredible films, Stitch and Time, Held at Gunpoint, and Ink or Dye.
Degrees of Freedom is a project of our Women Transcending Oral History Research Project and documents the advocacy and organizing efforts of women at Bedford Hills prison after the federal government removed all college programs overnight from prisons across the country in the 90s. The women not only fought to reestablish college programs in the prison, but collaborated with educators and prison administrators to create a new program and learning center so the women could support each other in continuing their degrees. The program continues today, as does the community of care the women created while they were inside.
Our co-director Cheryl Wilkins is a Director and Cast Member in the film and attended the screening with fellow cast member Iris Bowen and Producer Logan McBride, who supports our Oral History Research Project.
We were honored to premiere the documentary at the Dances With Films Festival in NYC and further honored to share it with the Dances With Films community on the West Coast. We also invited our networks and had members of the Collective Leadership Institute and participants in the Beyond the Bars Conference attend the screening.
We plan to submit the short documentary to more film festivals and host screenings to get this story out to the world and a part of prison organizing history.
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