Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers: Bridge Builder Series

Bridge Builders Series : Throughout the U.S., change-makers of all ages and backgrounds are fighting for criminal justice reform, creating community transformation that inspires hope nationwide. Screening Big Arms, Boundless, How We Heal Each Other, Beneath The Surface, and The Power Of Us.

Across the United States, community leaders of different ages, backgrounds and geographies are fighting for criminal justice reform. Their work has tangible impacts on the lives of those around them and together they look to a future where no one is left behind. Independent Lens Bridge Builders is a series of short documentaries highlighting these changemakers and their communities, collectively crafting a picture of the reform landscape nationwide.

Big Arms:
Haki Sekou is one of two Community Health Workers at the Formerly Incarcerated Transitions (FIT) Clinic in New Orleans. Equipped with his own experiences from time served at Angola Louisiana State Penitentiary, Haki empowers recently released individuals who are facing the same roadblocks that he encountered through education, understanding, and care.

Boundless:
Jennifer Carreon, a Chicana from the Laredo, Texas border and Director of the Criminal Justice Project with Texas Appleseed, works to reshape the Texas Criminal Legal system. Rooted in a bottom-up approach to social change, she is a bridge between system impacted communities of color and legislators.

How We Heal Each Other:
Ny Nourn is the Co-Director of the Asian Prisoner Support Committee (APSC), a Bay Area coalition that provides direct support to incarcerated Asian American and Pacific Islanders. Ny works to dismantle the prison to deportation pipeline and bring community members home.

Beneath the Surface:
Trina Reynolds-Tyler is a journalist and a data analyst who leads Beneath the Surface, an investigation into gender based violence buried in police complaints in Chicago. Trina sifts through misconduct data to identify patterns of abuse that are misclassified, present findings to the public, and expand discourse around police misconduct.

The Power of Us:
Community Aid Network, a Minneapolis-based mutual aid collective formed in August 2020 to address immediate needs of underserved communities suffering from the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and systemic racism; they build bonds between neighbors, organize volunteers, and redistribute resources.