At the White River Indie Festival over the weekend audiences watched the local debut of a documentary that follows a Dartmouth College class working with incarcerated women from Sullivan County, New Hampshire.
Every year, a course at Dartmouth pairs its students – some of the country’s most privileged young people – with prison inmates to put on a community performance showcase.
"It’s Criminal” follows the processes, watching the two worlds collide, shining a light on local rehabilitation and the justice system.
After the film screening Saturday evening, the group of women behind the project — including the filmmaker, some of the formerly incarcerated women, the Dartmouth professors and facilitators — took audience questions.
Signe Taylor, a documentary filmmaker based in Norwich, says working on the project changed how she viewed the criminal justice system.
“I really hope that this film — changes the legislation, changes in the way people view addiction, changes in the way people view criminality, that maybe we can start moving towards a place in this country where we can actually have equal justice,” Taylor told the crowd at the Saturday evening screening.
The group is now working on getting the film shown to Vermont and New Hampshire lawmakers.
Watch the trailer for "It's Criminal"
https://vimeo.com/194059127">It's Criminal Trailer from https://vimeo.com/user3041620">Signe Taylor on Vimeo.
