HomeEntertainment'Sing Sing' is being re-released in theaters. It is also shown in...

‘Sing Sing’ is being re-released in theaters. It is also shown in prisons. Here’s why that matters.

After receiving a number of award nominations and wins, the film Sing Sing is being re-released in theaters. It also makes history as the first film available simultaneously to nearly 1 million inmates nationwide.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the film will be shown in prisons in California, New York, Texas and 43 other states.

The movie is based on the real-life Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) program that has been operating since 1996 at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison approximately 30 miles north of New York City.

Trusted news and daily treats, straight to your inbox

See for yourself: The Yodel is the source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories.

Charles Moore, RTA’s director of programs and operations and a Sing Sing program alumnus, told Yahoo Entertainment that he is “thrilled to see RTA’s story of hope, resilience and transformation on the big screen so that individuals can see it across the world.” can see the land.”

See also  'Emilia Pérez' leads the pack in tight 2025 Oscar race

He said the partnership with distributor A24, nonprofit learning platform Edovo and RTA “is especially poignant for me as a person who has spent nearly two decades in prison.”

“This collaboration will be an opportunity for the inmates to connect and build on the emotional resonance of the film and consider a similar journey for themselves,” he added.

In Sing SingColman Domingo plays John “Divine G” Whitfield, a real person who was a star actor and playwright on the RTA program while wrongfully imprisoned for years. A majority of the actors playing his fellow RTA members are also alumni, including Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin, who plays a version of himself when he first joined the program and began building a friendship with Divine G.

“I would probably still be in and out of jail and would never have turned my life around if it wasn’t for this brother and his persistence in getting me into the program,” Maclin told CBS Sunday Morning in November.

See also  Diane Warren is 'the song whisperer.' Could 2025 be the year she finally wins an Oscar?

RTA uses theater, dance and music, among other arts-related workshops, to help reduce recidivism, that is, the tendency to relapse into criminal behavior. According to the organization, less than 3% of incarcerated participants return to prison, compared to the national average of 60%.

Clarence Maclin and Colman Domingo enter Sing Sing. (Dominic Leon/A24/Courtesy Everett Collection)

Maclin has been open about how his involvement with the program changed his life.

“We had to create mechanisms to mitigate the crash after the plays were over because it felt like we had to get out of jail for a few days,” he told Variety in November. “Those programs weren’t just art, they were survival.”

Edovo founder and CEO Brian Hill told the Hollywood Reporter that “storytelling is an incredible way to inspire hope and build connections, even in the most difficult circumstances.”

“Of Sing Singwe give incarcerated individuals the opportunity to see themselves in a story of resilience and transformation, and to feel inspired to imagine new possibilities for their own lives,” he said.

See also  All eyes on Zendaya, audience favorite Nikki Glaser jokes and more

The film shows flashes of the prison reality so often depicted in pop culture: violence is commonplace, freedom is limited, and humanity is questioned. But that’s not the focus of the film.

“We never deny the barbarity, cruelty and violence that can take place in prison, but what we wanted to show is that this is not the only thing that takes place in prison,” Maclin said at a screening in August.

Bee Sing SingDuring the July premiere in Brooklyn, NY, co-star and RTA alum Sean Dino Johnson said he wanted viewers to “remember the resilience of the human spirit, the strength of humanity.”

In the film, his character says that the program gives incarcerated people the opportunity to “become human again.” Now that message is available to those still in prison – not just those on the outside looking in.

- Advertisement -
RELATED ARTICLES

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Most Popular

Recent Comments