Ambassador Films Impact Report

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Executive Summary

Storytelling is power. At Represent Justice, we believe that the stories of those most impacted by the legal system will help end mass incarceration.

In 2024, we partnered with Kemba Smith, the team at MPI, and director Kelley Kali on an impact campaign for the BET Original and MPI Original film Kemba, which shares her incredible life story. The film shines a light on the rising rates of incarceration of women of color and survivors of violence and abuse, and questions the injustices of extreme sentencing and arbitrary mandatory minimums.

  • Kemba premiered on BET+ in February 2024, reaching a wide audience on the streaming platform. National and local press featuring Kemba and director Kelley Kali generated buzz and audience reach. 

    Film festivals and a sold-out, pre-release screening on Capitol Hill convened by the 400 Years of African American History Commission and Congressman Bobby Scott focused on the importance of protecting rather than harming women and girls who have survived violence and abuse.

    Represent Justice built on early momentum to facilitate 121 impact screening and appearance events across the country, including screenings for students at universities and high schools; with Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and other national organizations led by and serving Black women; and reaching legal and health professionals at national conferences. Kemba Smith also screened the film and spoke to women and men in 20 prisons and jails across the country, reaching approximately 2,200 incarcerated people.

    Audience survey data from our impact campaign shows that after seeing the film, over 90% of viewers are deeply concerned about Kemba’s story and supportive of laws designed to change mandatory minimum sentencing. More than 80% of audiences were also moved to take action after seeing the film.  

    Across all campaign activities, Kemba Smith and Represent Justice worked to leverage the film’s reach to support the national and years-long coalition effort to #FreeMichelleWest, supporting Michelle’s clemency petition before the President, and demanding broader use of federal clemency to grant second chances to women serving long sentences. After fighting for her freedom for more than 30 years, in January 2025, President Biden granted Michelle West clemency, and she is now home with her family.

900K+

Impressions on Kemba-related digital content

45

Appearances with the film team

121 

Impact screenings hosted by 100+ organizations

80%

Of viewers plan to take action

Chasing Redemption

Chasing Redemption follows along as two men travel the road towards redemption after their Life Without Parole (LWOP) sentences are commuted.

    • Film was seen by folks in California Governor’s office, in addition to the advocacy community, and was part of the efforts leading to CA SB 672-A bill (structural)

    • Won Best Documentary at the Golden State Film Festival and received a Silver Winner award from the Telly Awards (narrative/cultural)

    • Is in regular rotation of internal programming across all CA prisons (capacity-building with currently incarcerated population)

    • Doing future screenings at the monthly API-Rise gathering (capacity-building with formerly incarcerated population)

    • Doing future screening at Cal State LA in July with law students and Long Beach Prosecutors office (structural)

2,200

Viewers who are currently incarcerated

20

Screenings and events inside prisons and jails

Breaking Barriers

In alignment with our mission to build narrative power within system-impacted communities, Represent Justice worked with Kemba Smith to raise awareness about the connection between intimate partner violence and the extreme sentencing of women. We facilitated impact screenings across the country to reach young people, Black women leaders and their organizations, and system-impacted audiences.

  • At universities, we built on Kemba’s experience speaking with students at class-wide freshman orientations and worked to reach student unions and different departments. The film’s focus on Kemba’s experience beginning as a freshman at Hampton University highlights that young women of color are disproportionately caught in the criminal legal system as a consequence of surviving intimate partner violence, and offers a platform for Kemba and other experts to speak candidly and directly to students about prevention.

    The film powerfully depicts how the Legal Defense Fund, led by Elaine Jones at the time, worked with Kemba’s parents and national Black women’s organizations, including the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, the Links, the NCNW, and more, to lead a national movement to secure Kemba’s freedom. 18 student and alumnae chapters of the Deltas hosted their own screenings, and Kemba spoke at the Delta Days in the Nation's Capital, as well as webinars and conferences for Deltas throughout the campaign.

    We also worked to share the film and discussions with Kemba at over a dozen national conferences, addressing second-look sentencing, reentry, social work, healthcare and preventing violence against women.

121

Impact screenings hosted by 100+ organizations

80%

Of impact events included talkbacks or workshops

12,500

Attendees to screenings and events