The Over-the-Rhine International Film Festival is the nation’s first diversity film festival led by people in the disability community. The OTR Film Festival has partnered with the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and created the Freedom Film Series. Sponsored by Ohio Humanities, the second film in the series, Apart, from Academy Award® nominee Jennifer Redfearn (Best Documentary Short Sun Come Up), filmed over 3 ½ years, follows three mothers who were caught between harsh drug sentencing and rising incarceration rates for women as part of America’s War on Drugs. The three women return home from prison and attempt to rebuild their lives after being separated from their children for years. Their stories overlap at a new reentry program for women run by an activist formerly incarcerated in the same prison. The award-winning film has been an official selection at multiple film festivals, including the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, HotDocs, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, and the Cleveland International Film Festival.

We are excited to have remarkable panelists for a discussion following the film:

• Tyra Patterson – Community Outreach Strategy Specialist, Ohio Justice and Policy Center
• Malika Kidd – Director of Lutheran Metropolitan Ministries Chopping for Change Program, film subject
• Twyana Davis – Represent Justice Ambassador and Artist
• Nicole Kaufman – Associate Professor of Sociology, Ohio University Sociology and Anthropology Department and Center for Law, Justice & Culture

For more information, click here.