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Prisoners and Students Unite in Award-Winning Film
16 Jan
Summary
- Documentary explores crime and punishment through inmate-student classes.
- Film shows empathy growing between two vastly different student groups.
- Classroom 4 has won multiple prestigious film festival awards.
An Oscar-shortlisted documentary, "Classroom 4," chronicles an extraordinary class held within the walls of Columbia River Correctional Institution. Professor Reiko Hillyer leads a semester-long exploration of American crime and punishment, uniting fifteen incarcerated individuals with fifteen Lewis & Clark College undergraduates. The film highlights the initial anxieties and eventual profound connections formed between these disparate groups.
Directed by Eden Wurmfeld, "Classroom 4" details the powerful transformation of students as they engage with academic subjects that resonate deeply with the inmates' lived experiences. Topics like mercy and prison realities foster mutual learning and empathy, challenging preconceived notions and revealing the shared humanity of all participants.
The documentary, which has won multiple awards including at Aspen Film Shortsfest and LA Shorts, has been praised by executive producer Edward Norton for its refusal to dehumanize anyone. It emphasizes the potential for finding commonality and fosters a catalytic effect, encouraging viewers to reflect on their own capacity for empathy and connection.
