Picture Motion Monthly Reel: May 2016

Every month, Picture Motion sends a newsletter email update to highlight the latest and greatest news from our many wonderful film projects. Learn more about the incredible impact these films are having and join our newsletter mailing list to get involved!

A Note from PicMo

This has been one of our favorite springs to date – despite the weather refusing to warm up in NYC. Not only has Beyoncé released her powerful new visual album Lemonade, but our Picture Motion team was together and in full force at the Tribeca Film Festival celebrating the festival releases of five projects.

Three of these incredible films are raising awareness and engaging audiences to get involved in criminal justice reform. To honor and celebrate the premieres of The Return, Solitary and Untouchable, we partnered with the Tribeca Film Institute, Alysia Reiner (actress, “Orange is the New Black”), and The Bronx Defenders to host a premiere party. You can check out some of the photos from the event here.

Truth is the Ultimate Weapon!

If you care about reducing gun violence in America, you need to see this film.

We’ve teamed up with EPIX and the filmmakers behind Fed Up to organize a series of advance screenings and create a digital campaign for the EPIX Original DocumentaryUnder the Gun. In the film, Katie Couric examines why, despite the increase in deaths at the hands of guns and the outpouring of shock and outrage that comes with it, our nation has failed to respond with meaningful action. Through the lens of families impacted by the mass shootings in Newtown, Aurora, Isla Vista and Tucson, as well as daily gun violence in Chicago, the film examines why our national politicians refuse to act and what is being done at the state and local levels. Watch the full film on EPIX and EPIX.comnow with an EPIX Free Trial!

Take the Fair Chance Business Pledge!

Have you ever spent time in a prison? Over 6.7 million adult men and women have and last month, we did too. Heidi Nel travelled with the filmmakers of The Return and the Tribeca Film Institute to screen the film at Otisville Correctional Facility and discuss reentry planning with about 50 incarcerated men. Their stories were impactful and their circumstances harrowing. We weren’t the only ones moved by stories of the incarcerated, Tribeca audiences were as well. So much so, they voted in support of criminal justice reform and The Return took home the Tribeca Documentary Audience Award!

Later in the month, our DC team took members of the film team to the White House Champions of Change Expanding Fair Chance Opportunities event, and also co-hosted a special screening with AFI DOCS for Reentry Week. Washington audiences got to hear about reentry challenges first hand from film subject Bilal Chatman and were encouraged by panelists from the White House, The Sentencing Project, and the Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights to take local action and get involved. If you haven’t already, please join The Return‘s social impact campaign, The Return Project, and tune in for the broadcast premiere on PBS’s award-winning POV Monday, May 23.

Watch This: What if you were forced to choose between an education and your identity? Global Citizen just posted this short interview with Mariam director Faiza Ambah.
Pledge your support: Join The Return team in doing your part to help increase pathways to employment for those returning from prison by taking the President’s Fair Chance Business Pledge.
Watch this trailer: Have you seen the trailer for The Bad Kids? Check it out and join the conversation on ways to support low-income students using #BadKids.
Apply to this: The Creative Activist Program just put out their 2016 Call for Applications! If you have a project that is using the power of story to drive change, check it out!

1 Albert Maysles Award for Best New Documentary Director given to the Untouchable team at the Tribeca Film Festival.
1 Best Cinematography Award given to Kicks team at the Tribeca Film Festival.
1 Tribeca Documentary Audience Award given to the The Return at the Tribeca Film Festival.
1 trip to the White House with The Return for the Champions of Change for Expanding Fair Chance Opportunities event.
114 screenings of Romeo is Bleeding at juvenile justice facilities across the country as part of the Center for Educational Excellence in Alternative Settings’ Words Unlocked Poetry Competition in April.
1,622 people engaged in the Racing Extinction #EarthDayChallenge!