MASS EFFECTS is a new film series examining how mass incarceration has adversely affected the Black community.
We conceived of this series to bring needed attention to criminal justice reform and how mass incarceration affects not just those who are jailed, but how the Black family is affected psychologically and socio-economically, as well as their community.
The films are important, the conversations after even more so.
Post-screening community discussions with community activist Cadeem Gibbs, psychologist Dr. Jamila Codrington, and journalist Curtis Stephen. See more information on them below
CROWN HEIGHTS
starring LaKeith Stanfield (Sorry To Bother You), Natalie Paul (HBO's The Deuce), and Nnamdi Asomugha
In the spring of 1980, a teenager is gunned down in the streets of Flatbush, Brooklyn. The police pressure a child witness to identify a suspect. As a result, Colin Warner, an 18-year-old kid from nearby Crown Heights, is wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Colin’s childhood friend Carl ‘KC’ King devotes his life to fighting for Colin’s freedom. He works on appeals, takes loans for lawyer fees and becomes a legal courier to learn the court system. This incredible true story is based on the acclaimed This American Life piece and adapted by writer/director Matt Ruskin, with Lakeith Stanfield playing Colin Warner and Nnamdi Asomugha as Carl King.
RSVP for free HERE
Post-screening community discussions with:
Dr. Jamila Codrington is a New York state licensed psychologist specializing in children, adolescents and families. She has provided community-based work around incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals and helped to prepare a self-help manual piloted by the Department of Corrections in one of their facilities to assist those serving long time / life sentences. Dr. Codrington is a clinical supervisor at Astor Services for Children and Families, a community-based outpatient mental health clinic in the Bronx, NY, and Adjunct Professor at New York Theological Seminary. She is a Past President of the New York Association of Black Psychologists (NYABPsi) and has served on the Board of Directors for several years. She has chaired the NYABPsi Legislative and Social Action Committee for several years and was awarded the 2010-2011 distinguished Bobby E. Wright Award by the Association of Black Psychologists for her exemplary commitment to community service and empowerment.
Cadeem Gibbs employs the philosophy that the voices of those most impacted by an issue should be not only incorporated into the legislative and community healing and building processes, but leading the movements towards these changes, as they are the true experts. He has worked passionately in youth and leadership development, organizing, advocacy, facilitation, and case management for organizations, such as the Children's Defense Fund, the New York City Administration of Children’s Services, the Center for Court Innovation, and Raise The Age-NY. Cadeem has been featured in many print media like the Nation Magazine, Vice, and the Times Union, and multimedia platforms like the film by Emmy Award winning journalist Bill Moyers, RIKERS: An American Jail. Cadeem has been a guest speaker at institutions such as Duke University, Yale University, Seton Hall University School of Law, Columbia University, Spelman College, Emory University, Wesleyan University, and Fordham University.
Growing up in Harlem, NY, and being adversely impacted by an environment where violence, gang activity, drug abuse and overall poverty and poor conditions were prevalent, Cadeem has navigated poverty, child welfare, homelessness, and incarceration. Cadeem continues to build a platform and use his voice and story to inform meaningful change, engage communities, and inspire others, and serve as a mentor to many troubled youth in his neighborhood.
Curtis Stephen is an award-winning New York-based journalist whose work has appeared in the Daily Beast, Newsweek, Newsday, and City Limits magazine. Stephen has served as a stringer with Newsweek and a fellow with the Open Society Institute, where he wrote a series of magazine features on wrongful convictions. Currently, he’s working on a biography of the late New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker.
Among his reports, Stephen chronicled the case of Colin Warner, who was wrongfully incarcerated for 21 years for a murder he did not commit in a 2002 cover story for City Limits magazine. The story, picked up by NPR, is the subject of the 2017 film, “Crown Heights,” starring LaKeith Stanfield.
Inspired by Peter Jennings, the late ABC News anchor, Stephen aspired to a career in journalism beginning at the age of 12. A graduate of Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus, Stephen received the Theodore E. Kruglak Award in International Reporting and worked in India with The Times of India and CNN. Stephen has also worked for CNN in Atlanta, ABC News (“20/20” and “World News Tonight with Peter Jennings”) and WNBC-TV in New York. Stephen was one of the last journalists to interview New York City Councilman James E. Davis prior to his 2003 murder inside City Hall. For Newsweek, Stephen reported on the fatal 2002 shooting of Jam Master Jay, a founding member of the pioneering rap group Run-DMC.
He has interviewed everyone from ballet dancer Misty Copeland and fashion designer Betsey Johnson to the legendary writer Stan Lee and recording artist/producer Pharrell Williams.
Stephen has appeared in numerous media outlets, including Ebony, the New York Daily News and BBC Radio. He has received awards from the New York Association of Black Journalists and the Society of Professional Journalists. A Brooklyn native and resident, Stephen regularly visits New York City schools to address adolescents and teenagers. Stephen’s reporting has taken him around the world, from London to Kingston, Jamaica.
Recognition: In 2003, Stephen was profiled in the New York Daily News’ “Great People” column. In 2007, Stephen was dubbed “Journalist of the Year” on the blog, Brooklyn Ron. In 2008, his work received an award from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency. In 2014, Stephen was named a “40 Under 40” honoree by Caribbean Life. And in 2017, The FADER magazine profiled Stephen for its coverage of the film “Crown Heights.”
Mass Effects is sponsored, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and by contributions from community members, like you.
The Luminal Theater is a sponsored organization of the New York Foundation for the Arts. NYFA is a 501(c)(3), tax-exempt organization founded in 1971 to work with the arts community throughout New York State and the United States to develop and facilitate programs in all disciplines.