Which one is a prisoner? Which one is a student? Why do you think that?

Telling My Story is a moving documentary about female prison inmates and Ivy League students working together to write and perform a play about one of our society’s most silenced and invisible populations, women in prison. By documenting the ten-week collaboration between students enrolled in a community-based learning course at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire and female prisoners at the Sullivan County House of Correction in Unity, New Hampshire, the film provides a riveting first-hand exploration of poverty, class differences, social abandonment, addiction, and incarceration.

While raising awareness about the frequently dire circumstances of women in prison, Telling My Story also models and celebrates the possibility of societal change. The course offers an unusual opportunity for two disparate groups to break through both the concrete barriers as well as the less visible societal walls that keep them apart. The process of laughing, crying, talking and arguing together helped each individual work through his or her own preconceptions and stereotypes, a transformational experience for all the participants. Through immersing viewers into the life-changing journeys of the prisoners and students, Telling My Story aims to help transform deep-seated attitudes and unconscious prejudices, a crucial part of promoting prison reform for women.

We shot over 170 hours of extraordinary HD footage that intimately and powerfully captures the student and prisoner collaboration. We are currently fundraising to support the editing process.

Please help us complete this important work.