2019 Best Visual Storytelling (Larger Staff) Finalist: Skiff Mountain Films Staff

About the Entry

College Behind Bars puts a human face on mass incarceration by examining the transformative power of education.The team spent years following incarcerated men and women trying to further their educations. The series highlights the remarkable life-changing effects of Bard College’s unusual prison education program that allows some prisoners an opportunity to receive an elite liberal arts education and earn a bachelor’s degree.

Comments from the Judges

“The commitment and effort the filmmakers took to tell the stories of inmates trying to better their lives by obtaining a college degree – and what their stories say about our criminal justice system – is nothing short of incredible.”

“A remarkable film and important work by documentarian Lynn Novick. Video, audio, score, editing is highest quality…The film does honor to its subjects and the debate over the purpose of education and rehabilitation.”