Metamora Films: Transforming Hearts and Minds through Film

Jail is a scary place.  I know, I’ve been there (luckily only 5 days, but it was hell because of my charges!)  The general public often does not know the differences between jail and prison.  According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics ,  jails are locally-operated, short term facilities that hold inmates awaiting trial or sentencing or both, and inmates sentenced to a term of less than 1 year, typically misdemeanors. Prisons are long term facilities run by the state or the federal government and typically hold felons and inmates with sentences of more than 1 year.  This means that in local jails, there’s a HUGE mixture of inmates with a wide variety of low and high level offenses all together in the same pod!  For example, to the left of you is an inmate with twenty-five unpaid parking tickets; to the right is an inmate with armed-robbery charges.  I think of Tom Hanks famous line in the film, Forest Gump , “Mama always said life was li...

When I was incarcerated,  I loved listening to radio shows on National Public Radio (NPR) such as ‘Fresh Air’ and ‘All Things Considered.’ To be honest, I had never listed to NPR before I was incarcerated and had no idea the wide variety of shows that they aired across the country.  These shows served as a life line for me personally and helped me get through the darkest times of my life. But what about the average listener or viewer?  Is public broadcasting still a viable source for information, news and entertainment?   YES . WHAT IS PUBLIC BROADCASTING? America’s unique public broadcasting system is a collaboration of 1,300 local non-commercial radio and television stations that meet the standards of and are supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting .  They work with each other and with hundreds of national and local producers and community partners to ensure that Americans have universal access to high-quality non-commercial pro...

What is International Megan’s Law (IML) and why should you care? And why the controversy about ‘unique identifiers’ on registered sex offenders’ passports? Our  video coverage  of the Oakland, CA protest is getting a lot of attention lately.  Organized by Attorney, Janice Bellucci of  Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) and Vicki Henry, President of Woman Against Registry (WAR), the July 27, 2016 gathering at the U.S. District Courthouse was organized to educate the general public and to protest against ‘unique identifiers’ being placed on registered sex offenders’ passports. Bellucci argued that notifications sent to foreign countries have a “chilling effect” upon registrants, many of whom are now afraid to travel overseas.  She also argued that notifications are harm registrants’ ability to travel overseas in order to meet with family members, conduct business and pursue cultural interests.  S...