Set for a nationwide release August 2, Sing Sing is a story of community, resilience, humanity, and the importance of the arts! Sing Sing stars Coleman Domingo, Sean San José, Paul Raci, Jon-Adrian Velazquez, and Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin. Portrayed by Maclin, Divine G is imprisoned at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility for a crime he didn’t commit. He finds purpose by acting in a theatre group alongside other incarcerated men.
I had the opportunity to chat with Sing Sing’s director, Greg Kwedar, on making his directorial debut and why he wanted to direct this film.
A: Congratulations on Sing Sing. I got to check it out, and I thought it was extraordinary. So I want to start off with what moved you to really push sing?
G: I mean, I’ve been working on a smooth for over eight years, and feelings for it, and my love for this project, and the people involved, and what it stands for deepens with time, you know. It’s one of those type of films. But at the very beginning, you know I discovered this program in very unlikely ways, I was visiting a prison in Kansas, making a short documentary, and on the tour of the facility, I passed by a cell. And I saw a young man, raising a rescue dog inside of a cell and immediately in that moment all my expectations about prison and incarcerated people were abandoned, because I saw the healing that was happening in both directions between this man and animal. And I was desperate to know who was, who else was out there was doing things differently in that night in the hotel, on Google, I found this program RTA, and you know, within a few months, I was actually around a table, having breakfast at the real theater director, Brent Buell’s house with several of the alumni that are featured in this film now, including the real Divine Eye and Divine G.
A: Wow, that’s really beautiful and my background is in theater. So I know the power of how healing it is and how it really brings people together. And that was one of the things I noticed about the film. At first, you think it’s one person that’s, you know, the main character. But at the end I learned that all them are the main characters, all of them are principles, and it’s really showing the importance of community. When our “main character” was down, the community, brought him back up again. So, that was so beautiful. What, what do you hope that the audience walks away with?
G: I hope people start to recognize the human potential behind the walls, not just acting talent you know, but real deep human potential in all of its facets that you know could in time come forward and make our communities better and lift us all up with their gifts. And I hope that it’s also a testimony to the power of friendship of just what you said the way when we’re down, like someone
can lift us back up.
A: Well, thank you so much. Greg, this this film was beautiful. Congratulations to you and your team. And I look forward to seeing how the world responds to this film.
G: Thank you. And for your support, really appreciate it. Have a great day.
