I knew the event would be a good venue for our message, but I didn't realize just how many people would attend! There must have been at least 350 people there, all eating, drinking, sharing and celebrating the beginning of a new era for the country. Positive change was the theme and our film fit in perfectly.
After watching President Obama's speech, there was a moving performance by local youth group "I Go". Their piece resonated with me as it addressed many of the same messages we touch on in making The Trust. Especially the challenges of rising above violence, poverty, and criminality. Powerful messages from a very talented group.
When the time came to show our trailer, I was excited to hear all the comments made by the audience. While it played the audience spoke out in agreement with what our experts said and nodded in approval at all the right moments. After the lights came up, we had a roaring applause.
Tamara, Jesse and Camisha took questions and comments from the audience. One man suggested the need to reach out to Governor Schwarzenegger and demand more programming and reform for prisoners. Others expressed shock at the statistics included in the film, especially the 70% recidivism rate. Another mentioned the need to research best practices in German prisons, which have low recidivism rates, exploring why some methods of incarceration work better than ours.
Although we only had about 5 minutes to take questions, Jesse was able to end the moment by asking the audience to engage with the project by checking our website and making a donation.
In the end, it was a fantastic event. A big Thank You to Jennifer Holmes at Rhythmix for making it possible and to MoveOn.Org for supporting the film! We hope to have many more successful events like this in the future!
-- Simron
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