Kingston, NY- On Thursday, January 17, 2019 County Executive Mike Hein will host a community screening of the documentary film Circles at the Restorative Justice and Community Empowerment Center. The film screening will be the first public event held at the Center since its opening on December 27, 2018. Circles has been shown in limited release in cities across the United States and Canada since its debut at the 2018 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival.
“The Restorative Justice and Community Empowerment Center was built to change lives and provide opportunity before there was none” said Ulster County Executive Mike Hein. “The screening of Circles is an excellent example of that, it is an event that can help show the realities of the restorative justice process.”
Circles follows the personal and professional journey of Eric Butler, a Hurricane Katrina survivor and pioneer of the restorative justice movement, over two years as he relocates to Oakland, California and begins working with vulnerable Black and Latino teenagers in one of the city’s most under-resourced neighborhoods. Butler's restorative justice program endeavors to nurture and mentor troubled youth and disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline by keeping them in school and providing teachers with an alternative to suspensions and expulsions. With incredible access, Circles is an inspirational portrait of a father desperate to provide his son with the leadership and compassion he never received from his own.
"We can't afford to turn our backs on our kids," said Eric Butler, the founder of the Talking Peace model for restorative justice. "Suspensions and other forms of punishment serve the punisher more than they support the person who has been harmed, or harmed another; they don't actually solve the 'problem' at hand.”
Circles is directed and produced by Cassidy Friedman, who has also directed the documentary short Unstill Life, an Official Selection of the 2014 Long Island International Film Expo and The SoCal Creative & Innovative Film Festival. He has also directed the feature-length documentary Soledad with producers Van Jones and Glen Zipper. Cassidy is a Film Independent Fast Track fellow, Film Independent Docs Lab fellow, and Points North fellow. Cassidy has also written for the Times-News and received the Idaho Governor’s Award for Excellence in Journalism, in 2009.
“Circles shows us how to make room for peace in the midst of chaos,” said Cassidy Friedman, Director of Circles. “We see the power of conversations and the impact of putting relationships at the center of solutions to harm”.
Due to some scenes with strong language and content Circles is recommended for audiences age 17 and above, parental discretion is advised for younger viewers. The screening will take place at the Restorative Justice and Community Empowerment Center, 733 Broadway, Kingston, NY 12401 from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. following the film there will be a one hour Q & A with Cassidy Freeman and Eric Butler. The event is free and open to public, however, attendees must register in advance online at https://justicetalks-circles.eventbrite.com or by phone by contacting the County Executive’s office at exec[at]co.ulster.ny[dot]us or 845-340-3800.
Below: Coverart from Circles (2018).
