“Sing Sing,” a film starring Colman Domingo, will make history on Friday as the first movie to be released simultaneously in both commercial theaters and prisons across the United States.
The A24 film follows the story of men participating in a prison theater program and will be screened in correctional facilities throughout 46 American states, including California, New York, and Texas.
This unique release is largely thanks to A24’s work with Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA), the real-life organization that inspired the film. Edovo, a nonprofit organization that develops educational curricula for incarcerated individuals, also made this unusual release possible.
“Storytelling has an incredible way of sparking hope and building connections, even in the toughest circumstances,” Brian Hill, founder and CEO of Edovo, said of the film. “With ‘Sing Sing’, we’re giving incarcerated individuals an opportunity to see themselves in a story of resilience and transformation, and to feel inspired to imagine new possibilities for their own lives.”
Sing Sing was originally released on July 12, 2024, and is now set to have a wider release on January 17, reaching over 500 theaters and correctional facilities across the U.S. Domingo played Divine G, a wrongfully convicted man who helped start the prison’s theater program.
Besides professional actors like Domingo and Oscar nominee Paul Raci, most of the actors were formerly incarcerated people. Many of them are alumni of the RTA program, including Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin and Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez, THR reported.
“My journey through education and the arts gave me hope during my wrongful conviction, restoring my faith in humanity, sparking a culture of redemption during my incarceration,” Velazquez said. “By providing access to the movie Sing Sing we can transform lives in ways beyond our imagination.”
