Upcoming Events

Thursday, April 23, 2024 - 6:30 PM
University Heights Center - 5031 University Way NE, Seattle, WA

Free Film Screening of "Calls From Home”

Film Synopsis:

A longstanding radio program sends familial messages of love to people incarcerated in Central Appalachia. Directed by Sylvia Ryerson, a former DJ for the show, CALLS FROM HOME follows the weekly broadcast through prison walls, portraying the many forms of distance that rural prison building creates—and the ceaseless work to end the racist system of mass incarceration and family separation.

CALLS FROM HOME was featured during the 2023 Social Justice Film Festival and was awarded the Documentary Gold Award.

“An exceptionally strong portrait of a grassroots approach to address the issue of mass incarceration in Appalachia. From the innovative animation which enables us to imagine that which cannot be filmed inside the prisons to the inclusive structure of storytelling that makes this more than one family's story, this film does important work.”

- Winner, 2022 Jack Spadaro Documentary Award, Appalachian Studies Association

** After the screening, join us for an insightful conversation and Q&A with the Director, Sylvia Ryerson and local representatives of the restorative justice community.

For more information, contact: marisa@socialjusticefilminstitute.org

Sylvia Ryerson hosting “Calling from Home” at WMMT-FM and a promotion image from the documentary.

ARTICLE: Five Things to Know About… Sylvia Ryerson’s ‘Calls from Home’ (here)

A Ph.D. candidate in American Studies at the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences examines a radio station that broadcasts messages of support to incarcerated people across Appalachia — and takes aim at mass incarceration.