The second annual Justice on Trial Film Festival will take place on campus at the University Theatre on Friday and Saturday.
The festival will have films focusing on the “American prison industrial complex,” while exploring the “redemption, reintegration and restoration,” according to the event’s website.
Six films will be shown, three on each day. Attendees will have a chance to engage with the filmmakers after each film is shown, John McKenna, communications director of the film festival, said.
“The films are sure to inspire and engage much needed change,” McKenna said.
McKenna said that two keynote speakers will address the broad national landscape of the criminal justice system. Formerly incarcerated attorney and prison reform advocate Daryl V. Atkinson will speak on Friday, and former president of the American Studies Association Ruth Wilson Gilmore will speak on Saturday.
He said that on Saturday at 4 p.m., the festival will also discuss issues of immigration detention following the film, “Documented.” Audience members will have a chance to speak with the maker of this film, Jose Antonio Vargas, an immigration reform activist.
Last year, the film festival took place at the Lincoln Memorial University, but this year, McKenna said they wanted it to be in Long Beach.
“We wanted to specifically attract the South Los Angeles and diverse Long Beach community,” he said.
On Friday, the first day of the festival, will occur from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m., and on Saturday, the film will begin at 2 p.m. and end at 6 p.m.
Admission to the festival is free for CSULB students, faculty and staff, according to the festival’s website. For everyone else, admission costs $25 for both days and $10 for one day, according to the website.
McKenna said that, although walk-ins are accepted, the festival organizers prefer that attendees register online at justiceontrialfilmfestival.org.