As an advertising creative, turned TV and filmmaker I understand the need to tell longer stories. There are many of us and the list is growing.
Add Michael Reiner (no relation to director Rob) to that list. The Camp + King Copywriter has directed a powerful and moving four-minute short profiling Kamika Hebbert, whose parents, siblings, and other close relatives were repeatedly incarcerated.
“Kamika thought she had to burn the letters from prison so she could move on. Instead, she turned them into community uplifting art.”
In Kamika’s Letters, using poetry, screenwriting and spoken word, Kamika pushes past her family’s prison trauma, making something positive out of a lifetime of writing letters to prison.
Presented by the Freda Fund, Kamika’s Letters showcases the uplifting art (poetry, screenwriting) that Hebbert creates – informed by a lifetime of relationships via correspondence prison. The film reveals how multi-generational incarceration affects entire families, and in particular women within the African American community.
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Currently a foster care educator, Kamika teaches underprivileged teens to write down their experiences, which helps them believe in themselves and gives them a fighting chance to overcome the statistics. She also educates people outside of her community about the effects the U.S. criminal justice system and sentencing has on her community.
“It always blows me away to see the creative endeavors people you work with on a daily basis decide to take on in their free time,” said Roger Camp, Camp + King’s founder and CCO. “This piece by Mike Reiner is an incredibly soulful, and well told story that shows his unfettered creativity in presenting Kamikas story.”
This isn’t the first short from Reiner. His directorial work is at the intersection of social justice and human connection.
He’s made films revealing the meaning behind protest signs, Signs of the Times, shared stories about living on the streets of affluent San Francisco, Homeless In Super Bowl City, and other subjects.
Credits
Directed by Michael Reiner
Produced by Amy Krause
Photos by Lori Krause
Color by Hunter Hadfield
Sound design by Joaby Deal
Presented by the Frida Fund
SOURCE: Camp + King
Contact Colin Costello at colin@reel360.com.
