More than a quarter of women in this country have had a loved one incarcerated. For Black women, the odds are even higher. To love someone who’s locked up isn’t a marginal experience – it’s an American one. Growing up, Kristal watched nearly every man in her life disappear to prison. She channeled that struggle into keeping families connected, both as a social worker and with her van service that drives families to visit loved ones in far-off prisons. But when Kristal’s dad and brother return to Philly, her happiness meets the realization that release doesn’t always mean freedom. Passionate, funny and resilient, Kristal remains determined to carve out a different future — for herself and for her young nephew, Nyvae. Part observational documentary, part family album, A Woman on the Outside is a tender portrait of one family striving to love in the face of a system built to break them.
Documentary Film screening with director Lisa Riordan Seville: A Woman on the Outside
Date: 02/09/2023
Time: 7:00 pm-9:00 pm
Director Lisa Riordan Seville will be present to discuss the film. She is an award-winning reporter and independent filmmaker whose stories explore how money, power and policy shapes the lives of everyday people. Her investigative and enterprise work has appeared across NBC News platforms, on BuzzFeed News, The Guardian U.S., Lifetime/A+E Networks and WNYC Radio. It has been recognized with a Peabody, a Hillman Award and a Sigma Delta Chi from the Society of Professional Journalists, among others. Her most recent piece was a cover story for New York Magazine about the deaths of 15 men in New York City’s notorious Rikers Island jail complex.
For six years, the directors of A Woman on the Outside collaborated with Kristal and her family to make a film about their experience, through the female lens. Braiding Kristal’s photos, videos and voice with our verite footage, they strove to go beyond a story about prison to tell one of family, love and how women care for themselves while caring for others.
World Premiere at the 2022 SXSW Film Festival. Awarded Best Documentary at the 2022 American Black Film Festival, Best North American Feature Documentary at the 2022 Mammoth Lakes Film Festival, Best Documentary at the Diamond State Black Film Festival and received an Honorable Mention for Humanitarian Excellence at the 2022 Woods Hole Film Festival. Click here to find out more about this film.
Registration:
Registration is closed for this event.