Join us for this screening of the award-winning documentary Unguarded and a conversation afterward with the film's director, producer, and additional commentators.
This powerful film takes us inside the walls of APAC (Association for the Protection and Assistance of Convicts), the revolutionary Brazilian prison system centered on the full recovery and rehabilitation of the person. Beginning in 1972, APAC founder Dr. Mario Ottoboni volunteered in some of Brazil’s worst prisons. Seeing men and women frequently return to a life of crime once they left prison, Dr. Ottoboni decided to found his own restorative justice-based system. The results have been extraordinary: while the crime rate and recidivism rates have continued to increase in Brazil's public prisons, within the APAC system they have steadily decreased. UNGUARDED explores the unique method behind this system, now present in 23 countries across four continents. Observing the daily lives of the “recuperandos” (recovering inmates) who live and work there, we see firsthand why – as one inmate puts it – “no one escapes from love."
This free but ticketed event is open to the public.
Cosponsored by the Kellogg Institute for International Studies and the Klau Center for Civil and Human Rights.
Simonetta D'Italia-Wiener, Director/Producer
A longtime educator with degrees in both law and art history, Unguarded represents the perfect intersection of Simonetta’s interests and talents. A professor at Brooklyn’s St Francis College, Simonetta’s previous, Oaxaca-set documentary, The Awakened Heart, won numerous awards, including a top prize at Mexico’s International Film Festival.
T.J. Berden, Producer
T.J. Berden is a film producer at Big Sur Pictures. T.J. has developed, produced and distributed documentary and narrative films, including the award-winning Full of Grace (2016) via Cinedigm and Paul, Apostle of Christ (2018) starring Jim Caviezel. He served as a marketing and PR consultant on specialty films such as The Stoning of Soraya M., Waiting for “Superman," The Tree of Life, The Two Popes and A Hidden Life.