2025 AMBASSADOR FILMS IMPACT HIGHLIGHTS
From influencing legislation in Massachusetts and building bridges with policymakers in Alabama and Texas, to changing the narrative within universities, correctional systems, and faith-based communities, these campaigns demonstrate how lived experience and first-person storytelling can drive systemic change.
The summary below highlights some of the powerful impact outcomes of seven film campaigns led by our 2025 Ambassadors, all formerly incarcerated movement leaders turned filmmakers. Their films are not only acts of storytelling but tools of transformation—shaping public opinion, influencing policy, fostering cross-sector partnerships, and building community. Through targeted screenings, panel discussions and collaborations with advocacy organizations, each campaign has left impact far beyond the screen.
300,000
Over 300,000 people reached by 2025 Ambassador stories
185,000
Film views across prisons, campuses, government offices, grassroots, and virtual gatherings
52
Impact screenings hosted by 41 screening partners, including 11 film festivals
These nine Ambassadors have engaged thousands of viewers across prisons, campuses, government offices, and grassroots gatherings—deepening understanding of incarceration, trauma, reentry, and resilience. In total, 62 screenings were organized by 32 screening partners, including four film festivals.
Collectively, these efforts represent a growing movement of justice-impacted leaders reclaiming the narrative, reshaping public discourse, and mobilizing communities toward equity, healing, and reform.
For partners committed to racial equity and community-driven solutions, the Ambassador Program offers a blueprint for how meaningful investment in directly impacted storytellers and organizers can shift power, shape public will, and accelerate systems change from the inside out.
Advocacy is Life or Death
By Angelique Todd · Alabama
An advocate loses her job for challenging injustice, revealing how broken systems fail survivors who need help the most.
Angelique’s campaign was designed to shift public perception of survivors and justice-impacted women, while driving community action and systemic change to strengthen survivor-led advocacy.
Advocacy Areas of Focus:
Survivor Justice laws and advocacy efforts in Alabama and across the United States; Adultification, over-policing, and mislabeling trauma responses as criminal behavior.
Campaign highlights:
Shared educational content and facilitated conversations focused on policy and survivor-led advocacy.
Built partnerships with Queens Direct Marketing, EveryBlackGirl, and The University of Alabama.
Expanded reach through community dialogues, trainings, and collaborative opportunities.
Special thanks to the following partner organizations:
University of Alabama, Blackburn Institute
Inthrive Film Festival
EveryBlackGirl
Survivor Led Solutions
Queens Digital Marketing
My Name My Voice
Micreate
Autumn
By Autumn Mason · Minnesota
Autumn is a moving exploration of an often-overlooked fallout of incarceration: its devastating impact on children with parents behind bars.
Autumn’s campaign sought to raise awareness of incarceration's impact on children and families, while creating tools and supporting legislation that helps families navigate those impacts.
Advocacy Areas of Focus:
Survivor Justice laws and advocacy efforts in Alabama and across the United States; Adultification, over-policing, and mislabeling trauma responses as criminal behavior.
Campaign Highlights:
Created a legislation package to propose to legislators to provide support and options for families impacted by incarceration. The package, titled the Family Stability & Justice Reform Package, advances three complementary legislative solutions designed to keep families together, reduce recidivism, and promote lasting community well-being.
The University of Minnesota Pediatric Department research team has expressed an interest to align with Autumn on a national campaign.
Created a children’s book to support emotional well-being for children separated from parents.
Partner Organizations:
Advancing the Health of Justice Involved Pregnant People
Detroit Justice Center
Until We’re All Free
Anderson Center for the Arts
Inthrive Film Festival
Justice on Trial Film Festival
Hallie Q Brown Center
The Trauma We Carry
By Dena Dickerson · Alabama
After surviving a traumatic childhood and battling addiction, a formerly incarcerated person transforms their life through service. The Trauma We Carry details their journey helping others navigate reentry from prison while fighting for justice and reform in the juvenile justice system that fails to address the root causes of childhood pain.
Dena’s campaign aimed to advance trauma-informed reentry legislation and shifting public and legal culture toward recognizing the connections between childhood trauma, unmet needs, and incarceration.
Advocacy Areas of Focus:
Screening for Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) in juvenile justice systems; Trauma-informed practices in youth justice like: funding community-based mental health services and providing trauma training for law enforcement and court actors
Campaign Highlights:
Hosted a screening with Alabama state Senator Robert Stewart in Selma, Alabama.
Featured on the Everyday Injustice podcast in episode titled “Stories of Reentry and Resilience
Partner Oganizations:
Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles
Office of State Senator Robert Stewart
Alabama Books to Prisons Project
Innocent Demand Justice NOW & Walls Turned Sideways
University of Alabama, Blackburn Institute
University of Alabama, Birmingham
The Making of a Mask
By Emmanuel “Noble” Williams · Massachusetts
The Making of a Mask unearths the devastating link between childhood trauma and mass incarceration. Looking back on some of the central traumas that shaped his life, filmmaker Emmanuel “Noble” Williams examines how early wounds forced him to construct a mask of self-protection and journey to reclaim his authentic self.
Noble used the film to dismantle fear-based narratives around Black and Brown youth, educate people on the impact of trauma on youth, and build resilience and repair harm within the communities most affected.
Advocacy Areas of Focus:
End life sentences and lifetime parole for emerging adults (ages 18-21); Support and fund trauma-informed care and healing spaces for youth.
Campaign Highlights:
Screening at Watertown High School where attendees were led in a post-screening art workshop to reflect on themes of film.
Film used in support of Transformational Prison Project’s bill to End Lifetime Parole for Juveniles and Emerging Adults to illustrate the impact that harsh sentences have on youth in Massachusetts.
As of February 27, 2026, the bill to End Lifetime Parole for Juveniles and Emerging Adults has been referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Partner Organizations:
Transformational Prison Project
Reel Connect: The Short Film Showcase
Watertown High School
Watertown Public Schools Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging
It’s Not Okay
By Heather Jarvis · Ohio
In It’s Not Okay, a formerly incarcerated woman stands alone under a spotlight in an empty warehouse, reciting a raw, rhythmic spoken word poem that unravels the myth of the perfect reentry story. As her verses land, the stage dissolves into real footage of her journey — reunions, breakdowns, setbacks — until performance and reality blur into one truth: healing isn’t linear, and it’s definitely not okay.
Heather sought to use her film to shift narratives around generational incarceration while illuminating the emotional and relational impact it has on families.
Advocacy Areas of Focus:
Advocate for clinical recognition of PICS as a diagnosable mental health condition; Educate the public on the impact of PICS and integrate trauma-informed care standards into all reentry programming
Campaign Highlights:
Partner Organizations:
InThrive Film Festival
Anazao Community Partners
South Street Ministries
The Cure Complex
By John Medina · California
The Cure Complex uncovers the systemic failures that perpetuate Substance Use Disorder (SUD) through ineffective "evidence-based" practices and exposes how these systems, driven by Big Pharma, trap individuals in cycles of dependency through fear and control instead of empowering them to rebuild their lives.
John’s campaign aimed to shift public narrative and policy around addiction and behavioral health to generate support for treatment models that favor autonomy and individualized, person-first care over rigid, institutionally-centered care.
Advocacy Areas of Focus:
Fund and expand justice-impacted peer navigator programs; Advance person-centered models of care for people navigating substance use recovery.
Campaign Highlights:
Selected as one of five films to be released on Tubi, in-partnership with Genius in the Hood and TribecaOne.
In addition to screening at the Reel Connect: The Short Film Showcase, the film received a Michael Latt Legacy Award.
Partner Organizations:
InThrive Film Festival
Reel Connect: The Short Film Showcase
Whispers Beyond Bars
By Marci Marie Simmons · Texas
A young pregnant woman finds a journal revealing the harrowing journey of an incarcerated mother-to-be, only to discover a shattering truth
Marci’s campaign used the film to spark policy conversations around maternal healthcare for justice-impacted mothers, and build support for directly impacted leadership and storytelling.
Advocacy Areas of Focus:
Expand and mandate prenatal and maternal healthcare; Ban shackling during pregnancy, labor, and postpartum recovery
Campaign Highlights:
Hosted virtual screening and panel discussion with Rosie O’Donnell.
Reached several Texas lawmakers and legal advocacy organizations through screenings like: Advancing Real Change, attorneys with the Houston Public Defenders office, After Violence Project.
Screenings have sparked real conversation around treatment of pregnant women in prison, and uncovered realities that some audience members were unaware of.
The film has directly reached women who experienced pregnancy while incarcerated, prompting them to share their stories with Marci and express gratitude for bringing these issues to light.
Partner Organizations:
Until We’re All Free
Advancing Real Change, Inc.
Lioness Justice Impacted Women's Alliance
Texas After Violence Project
Texas A&M School of Law
ScorpiusFest
Innocent Demand Justice NOW
Walls Turned Sideways
The ACLU of Texas, Texas Abortion Advocacy Network Conference
Junior League of Fort Worth
The Truth Beyond the Mask
By NaJei Webster · Illinois
The Truth Behind a Mask unpacks the significant challenges people experience when reentering society after prison. Every day tasks that are often taken for granted become obstacles, ranging from securing employment and stable housing to navigating paperwork, shopping at the grocery store, or using household technology.
NaJei used her film to public understanding of reentry beyond surface-level solutions by exposing its deeper, often invisible challenges.
Advocacy Areas of Focus:
Fund and support Reentry Navigator programs and legislation.
Campaign Highlights:
Featured on the Everyday Injustice podcast in episode titled “Stories of Reentry and Resilience”
Screening with the Women's Justice Institute included women participating in their work release program, directly reaching people to help prepare them for reentry.
Directors for Reentry for the City of Chicago and the state of Illinois attended screenings.
Director for Reentry for the state of Illinois said the film inspired them to work on a community navigator program for the state.
Partner Organizations:
Resilience Arts Festival
Mud Theatre Project
Chicago Torture Justice Center
Women’s Justice Institute
Innocent Demand Justice NOW
Walls Turned Sideways
MalcomX College
How Did I Get Here?
By Nicole Davis · Illinois
After prison, a mother fights to rebuild her life and reconnect with her children in a world that refuses to let her move on.
Nicole used her story to offer a human lens on the harsh impacts of conspiracy laws and build public support for reform, while amplifying the voices of system-impacted individuals and highlighting both the hardships they face and their resilience and capacity for redemption.
Advocacy Areas of Focus:
Reform conspiracy laws to require intent and direct action; Repeal mandatory minimums, especially for nonviolent offenses.
Campaign Highlights:
Partner Organizations:
University of Illinois Chicago’s Department of Criminology, Law and Justice
Innocent Demand Justice NOW
Walls Turned Sideways
Lake County Adult Corrections Facility
Block Builderz
Giving Others Dreams (G.O.D. INC)
Wiley University