Reasonable Doubts | Making an Exoneree
FILM 171S 2023, is an intensive two-quarter course in which a small number of passionate and highly-motivated UCSC students will join a similarly committed and enthusiastic group of students from Georgetown University to research the innocence claims of wrongfully convicted people currently incarcerated in the United States. The students at the two universities will work together as investigative journalists, documentarians, and social justice activists, with the goal of creating documentary projects, websites, and social media campaigns in the pursuit of freedom for a wrongfully convicted incarcerated person. Students will be required to travel with their team to reinvestigate and document their experiences. Travel expenses will be fully funded through the Visualizing Abolition Initiative.
The “Making an Exoneree” course at Georgetown originated with Professor Marc Howard and his childhood friend, Adjunct Professor Marty Tankleff, who was himself wrongfully convicted and incarcerated for almost 18 years before being exonerated. Previous versions of the course at Georgetown resulted in the exoneration and release of Valentino Dixon and significant progress in the legal prospects of several other potential exonerees.
In the winter and spring of 2022, Film and Digital Media Professor Sharon Daniel co-taught this course with Professors Howard and Tankleff. UCSC students in the class were able to help two of the five ‘clients’ find top-notch pro bono legal representation. Once again this year (Winter and Spring 2023) UCSC students will have the opportunity to work with Georgetown students to reinvestigate and document five new cases. The output for the course will include the production of short documentary films, websites, and social media campaigns that will provide humanizing portraits of the lives, families, and complicated legal cases of five people who were likely wrongfully convicted. At the end of the spring quarter of 2023, students will present their work at a public event hosted by the Prisons and Justice Initiative at Georgetown and the Institute for Arts and Sciences at UCSC.
The class is scheduled to meet in person on Fridays from 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in both the winter and spring quarters of 2023. Students who wish to participate must commit to enrolling in both quarters of the course. Although the class will not always meet as a full group each week for that entire block of time, students must keep their Fridays open, free from other classes or regular commitments. Students will be meeting in person and working together within smaller groups, attending guest lectures and presentations on both campuses via Zoom, and consulting with the professors on both campuses, on a regular basis throughout the two-quarter sequence. Students will also likely need to travel with their teams on at least one weekend during the winter quarter and possibly during spring break.
Priority will be given to those students who have a solid academic and practical background in film and digital media making, and/or legal studies, combined with a passion for justice and an understanding of injustice in the criminal legal system. System-impacted students are especially encouraged to apply. Having a background in investigative journalism, criminal justice reform, or abolition activism is a bonus, but not a requirement.
As part of your application, you will be asked to submit a 3-minute webcam video in which you explain why you want to take the course and what you have to offer, while also providing any background information that may be relevant or helpful. The application period opened on Nov 14, 2022, and the final application deadline--for submitting all materials, including the video is Nov 28, 2022.
Please visit the link provided for the course application form @ https://slugfilm2.ucsc.edu/secure/production_applications/171s_application.php