Features
Andrew Gioannetti
Cultural historian and former journalist Kim Johnson took a different tack in his executive producer debut for a feature film, Wishing For Wings, which earned a Best Documentary nomination at the 2022 NYC Film Festival.
The festival closed on Sunday, three days after Wishing For Wings made its world premiere, taking audiences on an emotional journey during its 72-minute running time.
The film was inspired by the 2013 book of the same title by prison reform activist and Newsday columnist Debbie Jacob.
Both the film and the book focus on Jacob’s work with inmates at the Youth Training Center (YTC), who follow very different paths after their release.
“The feedback has been great so far,” Johnson told Newsday after the premiere.
Johnson, who also edited, wrote and directed the film, was unable to attend and was represented by his girlfriend Malika Green.
Like Jacob’s book, which received overwhelmingly positive reviews on Amazon, GoodReads and other online bookstores, the film has been widely praised by viewers.
Among them was the festival’s top photographer, Rehana Khan, an American with Indo-Caribbean roots. Being a former teacher, like Jacob, Khan said the film resonated with her.
“I like the fact that it dealt with a serious topic, but showed positives and negatives; don’t completely beat the system,” she said. “The story of redemption is always something to cheer about.
“I also liked the fact that it took someone outside the culture – a white woman – to see their (the prisoners’) potential and try to offer them freedom in ways they didn’t think possible. “
Jacob grew up on a farm in Ohio, USA, moved to TT in the early 90s and became a journalist and later an English teacher and librarian at the Port of Spain International School in Westmoorings, which contrasts with work her later YTC Prisoners.
Jacob has also worked with older inmates in general prisons, where he has organized successful debating teams.
Johnson said that within two days of Jacob’s release of Wishing For Wings, he knew he wanted to make a film with him. In fact, the film was originally intended as a drama and Johnson even had a high-profile name to play Jacob, but serious budget constraints intervened. The film was also only intended to be about 20 minutes.
However, after only two days of shooting, Johnson had an incredible amount of powerful footage to work with. This, however, came with its drawbacks.
Because of the nature of the documentary, Johnson said he has serious reservations about its wide release in this country, given the stigma attached to YTC inmates, particularly those in the background of the film and whose stories they did not necessarily have the positive. conclusions presented by others.
Johnson said, however, that getting cameras into the YTC was not difficult, as former prison commissioner Sterling Stewart strongly supported the film’s production.
Both the book and the film emphasize the attention Jacob pays to the individual inmates in her classes, treating each one with dignity and taking into account their unique personalities.
Johnson said the inmates’ transformation was based on Jacobi’s own transformation coming into the prison system.
“Debbie had to change from an insecure and shy woman to a confident woman who believed she could be redeemed,” Johnson said. “It was a mutual enlightenment.”
Khan told Newsday, “She provided them with a motherly mentor figure as well as education.
“If they’re educated, no one can really hold you back or limit you but you. She gave them hope. I saw how some spoke of him with great respect.”
There was a sense of authenticity in the film, demonstrated in the relationship between the Prison Commissioner and Jacob – a healthy relationship, but not without differences of opinion.
For example, Stewart and Jacob spoke individually about why they believed one of the inmates had made significant positive steps to improve his lifestyle.
While Stewart suggested that physical discipline, or spanking, was the cause of his change, Jacob argued that it was his reading and writing, and ultimately finding himself, that was responsible for the changes.
At some points, the film could be felt in the gut; a number of inmates appeared to end their stay at the YTC making significant educational and psychological progress, while others were not so fortunate.
“The director’s approach was empathetic but gritty and real,” said Khan. “It evoked emotions from the audience, from my observation and conversation with them afterwards.
“It’s great that our (Caribbean) culture was represented. I wish more of our people would have the opportunity to make and submit films and also on such subjects.
“It was hard to watch sometimes. It hits you that this is a reality for those guys and their stories need to be told.”
