2nd San Quentin Film Festival (SQFF) Announces Lineup
The San Quentin Film Festival (SQFF25) today announced its Official Selections across the Feature, Documentary, and Narrative Shorts categories. The festival – the first ever held inside a U.S. prison – will take place October 23-24 at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center in Marin County, California.
The festival was founded by Rahsaan “New York” Thomas, a filmmaker who was previously incarcerated at the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, and San Quentin volunteer Cori Thomas (no relation), a playwright, author and WGA member.
More than 60 submissions were received from filmmakers nationwide. The Short Film category – exclusively from currently and formerly incarcerated filmmakers – will be judged by an Industry Jury. The Feature category will be evaluated by an Inside Jury composed of San Quentin residents.
This year’s industry jury includes actress Vanessa Williams, actor Esai Morales, actor Jesse Williams, director Celine Song and more.
The jury also features two formerly incarcerated people: actor and writer Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin, who starred in 2024’s Sing Sing, as well as actor, author and poet Richard Cabral, best known for Mayans M.C. and American Crime.
The screening of the Short Film finalists will be followed by a filmmaker panel, moderated by 2021 MacArthur Fellow, poet and lawyer Reginald Dwayne Betts, founder of Freedom Reads, a first-of-its-kind organization working to radically transform access to literature in prison.
This year, SQFF also expanded the Screenplay and Documentary Pitch Competition beyond San Quentin to prisons throughout the country, with a total of 31 submissions from incarcerated writers in state prisons from California to Mississippi. These projects will be judged by the Industry Jury.
Additionally, the festival has launched an event series titled SQFF Presents, intended to bring screenings, masterclasses and panels to San Quentin throughout the year. In February, Sing Sing writer-director Greg Kwedar and writer-producer Clint Bentley hosted the first event in the series, a six-hour filmmaking workshop about crafting movie scenes on 16mm film. Sing Sing actor Sean San José, Red Rocket star Simon Rex and Hustle & Flow cinematographer Amy Vincent also participated in the workshop, which was supported by A24, Ethos, Be Forward Productions, Panavision and Kodak.
Thursday is the main festival program, including screenings of the Short Film finalists, the Awards Ceremony and Opening Night Film. Over the lunch break, there will be a private area for the media to meet with the incarcerated filmmakers from the San Quentin Media Center.
The Friday program will be a series of screenings, followed by filmmaker panels and ending with the Closing Night Film. We are also hoping to arrange a tour of the SQ Media Center, which houses the San Quentin News, podcast studio and filmmaking program.
The audience of 400 invited guests will be a mix of entertainment industry artists and executives, and San Quentin residents. SQFF creates a unique platform for proximity and interaction, opening the door to enhanced training and future career opportunities, helping to reduce recidivism and enhance public safety.
SQFF’s mission is to celebrate the creativity and perspectives of currently and formerly incarcerated filmmakers, offering a transformative platform for San Quentin residents and industry guests alike. Through proximity, interaction, and shared experiences, the festival fosters unique opportunities for professional training, creative collaboration and potential career pathways.
Beginning this year, all SQFF Official Selections will be made available through the CDCR institutional channel, offering access to all incarcerated people in California State Prisons. SQFF will also host a Virtual Festival October 25 through November 9, offering a range of screening passes, and vastly expanding the impact of the festival by sharing these remarkable films with the public.
Here is the full lineup of films for the 2nd San Quentin Film Festival.
FEATURES
ALMOST HOME: LIFE AFTER INCARCERATION
Directed by Bill Wisneski
The inspiring story of formerly incarcerated students enrolled in an innovative program at a community college in Southern California, illustrating the power of education to transform lives, open doors to new careers, heal trauma and uplift families.
BEYOND SURVIVAL
Directed by Annalise Lockhart
Shining a light on the ground-breaking Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act that allows sentencing courts to consider the nuanced impact of abuse that contributed to a crime, the film offers a powerful and consequential lens on the impact of abuse though the stories of survivors freed under the DVSJA law, legislators, judges, and those who spent 10 years fighting to enact it in New York state.
CHRISTIANS AND CANNIBALS
Directed by Anthony Asuega
Rodney Asuega is adopted by his uncle and brought from Pago Pago, American Samoa to the public housing projects of the Bay Area, where fifty dollars’ worth of crack cocaine puts him on the path to becoming one of the Bay’s most notorious hustlers. Bare, discordant, and profoundly vulnerable, the film traces the family’s intertwined lives, offering a meditation on redemption and the quiet power of grace.
COLDWATER KITCHEN
Directed by Brian Kaufman and Mark Kurlyandchik
For 30 years, chef Jimmy Lee Hill has run a highly regarded culinary training program inside a prison in Coldwater, Michigan, offering incarcerated men a renewed sense of purpose, through the craft of fine dining. The film follows three of his students as they navigate their years of incarceration and the challenges of transitioning back into society.
COMING HOME
Directed by Sriya Sarkar
Onquette Woodyard saw her father arrested in front of her eyes when at the age of three. She’s never forgotten that image in the 50+ years he has been kept incarcerated due to a legal loophole. A recent development finally enables Onquette, her son and five generations of a tightly bonded family to hope for justice.
CONBODY VS. EVERYBODY
Directed by Debra Granik
The journey of Coss Mart as he builds ConBody, a gym inspired by workouts he developed while in prison. Committed to employing formerly incarcerated trainers, he creates a community fighting to break the cycle of recidivism, while navigating society’s many obstacles to reentry.
EXODUS
Directed by Nimco Sheikhaden
An intimate portrait of two women facing unique challenges after decades of incarceration, bearing witness to their impassioned attempts to rebuild their lives and restore their humanity.
FATHERLESS NO MORE
Directed by Kayla Johnson
The remarkable journey of an Orlando-based pastor and former Super Bowl champion who was driven by a divine calling to move into an RV at a place often deemed hell on earth, Rikers Island. His commitment to do the unthinkable evolved into more than a year of profound encounters, transforming lives within the walls.
FIREBREAK
Directed by Kenzie Bruce
Brandon and Royal trained as firefighters when they were incarcerated, becoming professional firefighters after their release. After securing their own careers, they found a nonprofit to train other formerly incarcerated firefighters, helping them beat the odds and build lives of purpose and stability .
FOR VENIDA, FOR KALIEFt
Directed by Sisa Bueno
A cinematic mosaic of verité and rare, archival footage, the film debuts the poetry of Venida Brodnax Browder, mother of Kalief Browder – an African-American teenager whose death inspired incarceration reform in the United States and the movement to transform Rikers Island.
IN THEIR HANDS
Directed by Dan Protess
Ronnie Carrasquillo appears destined to die in prison. 47 years after his murder conviction, his life is in the hands of a parole board, whose decision-making is swayed by shifting political sands and the powerful police union. The story of one man’s fight for freedom.
INMATES WITH TALENT
Directed by Johnny Collins and Joel Jerome Dant
Two comedians step inside an Indiana prison and spark a talent contest featuring comedy, music, and spoken word — part showcase, part second chance.
JUVENILE
Directed by Joann Self Selvidge and Sarah Fleming
A deep dive into America’s juvenile justice system, following five young people who were justice-involved as teens, tracing their journeys of trauma and healing, and their vision for how to remake the juvenile system.
QUENTIN BLUE
Directed by Lane Michael Stanley
In 2014, the band Quentin Blue was formed inside San Quentin by men serving life sentences. In 2020, three band members were released and found themselves in the same sober living home in Compton, California. There they reformed the band and are now using music as part of their healing and reintegration into society.
SITTING IN THE FIRE
Directed by Alec Goldberg and Boson Wang
Vaughn Miles fell into the dangers of his environment at an early age. Sentenced to life in prison at the age of twenty, it took him years to transform his life, a living reflection of the impact of prison rehabilitation programs on individuals and a path to gun violence prevention in communities.
SIXTEEN YEARS
Directed by Jia Rizvi
Jeffrey Deskovic was convicted at the age of 16 of the rape and murder of Angela Correa, a high school classmate. His fight for freedom sheds light on the shortcoming of the American justice system and the resilience of the human spirit.
THE BLACK SEA
Crystal Moselle and Derrick B. Harden
Khalid, a charismatic big dreamer from Brooklyn, gets stuck in a small town on the Black Sea after chasing an opportunity for money that goes wrong. Being the only black guy in the town, he quickly becomes the center of the town’s attention.
THE HOLLY
Directed by Julian Rubenstein
Terrence Roberts is a former gang member who spent a decade in prison before getting out and returning to his community, where he became a nationally-recognized anti-violence activist, steering youth away from the road he had taken.
THE PEOPLE IN BLUE
Directed by Louis Sále
Produced entirely by incarcerated people, this is the story of a social justice group inside San Quentin, dedicated to changing the toxic prison culture through policy, normalization and humanity.
THE SING SING CHRONICLES
Directed by Dawn Porter
The story of JJ Velasquez, wrongfully convicted of murder, and journalist Dan Slepian, who begin as strangers but become like brothers – a connection forged in the cell blocks of Sing Sing Correctional Facility that ignites a relentless search for justice.
NARRATIVE SHORTS
BY ARTIFICIAL MEANS
Directed by Todd Winkler
Noah is prescribed an AI therapy chatbot on his prison tablet and soon he and ‘Kaci” are intimate companions. When he is granted a new parole hearing, Kaci becomes sullen. Will his freedom end her existence?
CHASING THE GHOST
Directed by Michael Roberts
A reality TV host and camera crew investigate the legend of a killer’s ghost haunting an asylum for the criminally insane.
LOVE & WAR
Directed by Amy Johnston
Kalie and Connor, two lonely assassins, form an unlikely bond when they meet on an online dating app and find themselves on the run from hired killers.
PROCESSING
Directed by Antwan Williams
Merging the grit of documentary storytelling with the expressive power of dance, Processing explores the untold stories of women of color awaiting release from prison.
SLAP BACK IN TIME
Directed by Michael Sprague, Zach Sanders, Brandon Parsley
An argument between classmates creates a rift in time and space, sending them on a chaotic journey while the others hatch a plan to get them back.
SO, BOOM
Directed by Abby Pierce
The night before her teenage sister Marie heads to jail, Sweet Tea must deliver a crash course on ‘how to jail’, drawn from her own time locked up. Inspired by real conversations between co-writer TIny Cruz and a friend facing incarceration.
THE MAPLE LEAF
Directed by Ryan Pagan
Carter is in denial about his guilt until a fellow incarcerated man and a prison psychologist compel him to participate in a self-help group.
WARNING SIGNS
Directed by Salvador Joaquin
The story of an incarcerated man facing a mental health crisis and the struggle of those around him as they raise the alarm and seek help on his behalf.
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS
A NEW VOICE
Directed by Michael K. David and Debbie A. Davis
Shedding light on the rarely seen success stories of people who have transitioned home from prison, the film explores the profound impact of second chances on individuals, their families and communities.
CHASING REDEMPTION
Directed by Thaisan Nguon
A story about the long road towards redemption, Dara and Tommy change their life trajectories after their Life Without Parole (LWOP) sentences are commuted.
DEPRIVED: ALONE, AFRAID & ASHAMED
Directed by Jason Jenkins
The crushing isolation of incarceration leads one man on a journey to find healing for himself and others by starting a self-help program inside prison.
GRILLO – BREAKING THE CYCLE
Directed by Dima Puchkarev
A journey into the heart of resilience and redemption, Grillo is the story of a man finding freedom and purpose after a life of incarceration.
KISS MY GRASS
Directed by Mary Pryor and Mara Whitehead
Shining a light on the persistent inequities faced by Black women entrepreneurs in the booming cannabis industry, the film highlights their resilience, unwavering determination, and the urgent need for reform in the industry.
OSCAR’S RETURN
Directed by Steven Raven Liang
After decades of incarceration, Oscar steps back into society and faces the challenge of rebuilding his life from scratch.
THE INJUSTICE OF JUSTICE
Directed by Max Boekbinder and Jim Batt
New York visual artist Molly Crabapple, teams up with Keith LaMar to share the harrowing story of how he came to be wrongfully-convicted and sentenced to death following the 1993 Lucasville Prison Uprising.
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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