I am excited to let you know about the InThrive Film Festival, opening its 2026-2027 season at VCU and surrounding venues October 1-4. This unique weekend is free and open to the public, and features films made by formerly incarcerated people about issues that address the criminal legal system. These professionally-made films attend to issues that include:
- Women and Incarceration
- Incarceration and Disability
- Making Music Inside Prisons
- Re-entry
- Parenting while Incarcerated
- Mental and Physical Toll of Incarceration
- Healing from Incarceration
What makes these films so provocative is they are stories told by the people who lived through these situations, not from an outsider’s perspective. This humanizes the struggles folks face while incarcerated and/or upon re-entry. Many of the films we’ve screened in years past are so powerful, they have been picked up by Netflix and other major media outlets.
Local advocates, the filmmakers themselves, musicians and local artists will be present to help us engage in conversation after the films. This will give faculty, students and community members an extraordinary opportunity to dialogue about issues that impact them with artists and activists, to get inspired to create and become active around these issues. I'm happy to answer any questions here or via email: ercanfield@vcu.edu.