RIC Film Series: 'Calls From Home'

Description

An intimate portrait of rural prison expansion, Calls From Home documents WMMT-FM's longstanding radio show that sends familial messages of love over public airwaves to reach people incarcerated in Central Appalachia. For many, the show is a lifeline to the world outside, as exorbitant prison phone rates and constant prisons lockdowns make communication costly and often inaccessible, and the lack of public transportation to the region makes visitation impossible for many.

Directed by Sylvia Ryerson, a former DJ for the show, the film portrays the many forms of distance that rural prison building creates—and the ceaseless search to end this system of racialized mass incarceration and family separation.

This is an advanced cut of a work-in-progress.

The film screening, hosted by the Program in Racism, Immigration, and Citizenship, will be introduced by Stuart Schrader and followed by a Q&A with director Sylvia Ryerson.