One of Tusko’s documentary originals ‘Dying Out Loud’ just won a Grand Jury prize, which came with a trophy (and some prize money!) at the 6th annual IFAFF Festival in Chicago, Illinois, USA. ‘Dying Out Loud’ also made the official selection for the Urban Film Festival (Florida, US), Sidewalk Film Festival (Alabama, US) and the Respect Human Rights Film Festival (Northern Ireland, UK).

“IFAFF is an exciting and ground-breaking event designed to raise awareness about the magnitude of the harm caused by mass incarceration by harnessing the creative energies of dedicated, socially conscious filmmakers. See these films, expand your mind, grow your heart, and join the movement for justice.” – Michelle Alexander.

Michelle Alexander is a writer, civil rights advocate, and visiting professor at Union Theological Seminary. She is best known for her 2010 book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. She also starred in the acclaimed documentary ‘The 13th’, which can be seen on Netflix.

Our documentary ‘Dying Out Loud’ looks at Life Without Parole (LWOP) in the state of Pennsylvania, United States. We made this film by gaining access to a maximum-security prison in Pennsylvania to talk to female prisoners facing Life Without Parole. Most of the women didn’t even ‘pull the trigger’ but will die in prison. Is it just that they die slowly in prison without hope, even though they didn’t actually kill anybody?

The sentence of Life Without Parole has been described as “death sentence in slow motion”. It has also been described as being a “cruel and unusual punishment”, which would be against the United States Constitution. The women admit their involvement and culpability in the crimes, this documentary asked viewers to judge for themselves, if this one size fits all rule is appropriate for the women you see in the film. If it isn’t’, maybe it’s time for a change. There are some incredibly dedicated groups like, Let’s Get Free and The Women’s Lifer Resume Project working to make this change.

Tusko’s very own Jake J. Smith (Producer/Director) admits gaining access to the prison system in the United States was a difficult process, he says “It took a very long time for the Department of Correction to even consider letting us into their maximum security prisons. The access we eventually were given was incredible. It was an amazing opportunity to tell the story of the women and the law that keeps them in prison”.

Tusko’s film was acquired by Real Stories. Real Stories enabled the documentary to be seen by over 3 million people across the Real Stories channel and social platforms. It is also one of the most highly engaged with documentaries on the channel with over 2,300 comments on YouTube alone!

Real Stories is the documentary channel of Little Dot Studios.

At Tusko HQ, we are currently working on a follow up to Dying Out Loud…more on this soon.

Watch Dying Out Loud at tusko.co.uk/projects/dying-out-loud or at https://youtu.be/6pVq5-12duk