Impact Report
APART
FEBRUARY 2023
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Executive Summary
The documentary Apart, directed by Jennifer Redfearn and produced by Tim Metzger, follows mothers in Ohio working to rebuild their lives and reconnect with their families after being incarcerated and separated from their children for years. Independent Lens, the award-winning PBS anthology documentary film series, and Represent Justice, a nonprofit organization using the power of media to change the justice system, partnered with the filmmakers and film participants on multifaceted initiatives to reach and engage audiences.
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Apart premiered on Independent Lens in February 2022, and was watched by 1.5+ million viewers through the broad- cast and PBS streaming platforms. Independent Lens also worked with local PBS stations and nonprofit organizations to host 43 screenings and community discussions to help audiences understand how rising incarceration rates impact their community and build discussions about local solutions. Represent Justice launched a targeted impact campaign and facilitated 61 screenings — including 45 film participant appearances — in prisons and with reentry organizations, business leaders, and elected officials to drive support for reentry programming for women.
Audience surveys collected through the innovative DocSCALE tool reveal that the film taught viewers about the impact of incarceration on families and the challenges facing women upon reentering society. More than three-quarters of viewers were moved to take action after watching the film, most frequently stating a plan to volunteer with or donate to organizations that either support mothers who are currently incarcerated or help women as they return home to their communities.
1.5 M+
Viewers
45
Film Participant Appearances
104
Screenings and Community Discussions
75%
Or More Viewers Planned to Take Action
How Did Apart Reach and Engage Audiences?
The Apart film team, Independent Lens, and Represent Justice co-created a distribution and impact strategy to maximize strengths, clarify roles, and plan a collaborative evaluation.
Brought together by a shared connection to Apart, the film team, Independent Lens, and Represent Justice met early on to create a theory of change. Independent Lens and Represent Justice both brought to the planning process commitments to working at the intersection of films and ending mass incarceration, and Apart marked their first opportunity to work together on a film.
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Together, they developed and rolled out a co- ordinated strategy that best aligned with each organization’s existing partnerships, platforms, and approach. Independent Lens focused on its relationships with general audiences through national broadcast, streaming, and promotion- al platforms to increase awareness and build empathy among audiences, many of whom
did not have a close connection to the criminal legal system. Represent Justice targeted its efforts on garnering support for women as they reenter their communities by building on their ongoing relationships with residents inside prisons, reentry organizations in communities, system actors, and the business community.
The Power of Public Media
Independent Lens used the power of public media to bring new voices into discussions of injustices in the criminal legal system and challenge the stigma of incarceration.
The film premiered on local public media stations across the country on February 21, 2022, and streamed for free for 30 days on the PBS Video app. Independent Lens promoted the film with its 460,000+ social media followers, launched a strategic media campaign, and hosted a virtual screening and panel discussion to build a broad Apart audience. Social media posts garnered nearly 20,000 reactions, comments, and shares, and more than 200 media outlets featured the film. For the virtual screening, Independent Lens brought together 235 viewers from across the country who shared their real-time reactions to the film with each other via the viewing platform’s chat function.
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This outreach approach successfully brought in audiences that were unfamiliar with the issues raised in the film. Among the Independent Lens broadcast and streaming viewers who shared their thoughts on the film, 91 percent indicated that they did not work for the criminal legal system nor towards its reform. Most of these viewers had not discussed the crim- inal legal system with members of their community in the month prior to viewing the film.
To create a platform for local discussions about the issues raised in the film, Independent Lens partnered with 22 public media stations and 20 other local community organizations, including universities, colleges, libraries, and film festivals to to host additional screenings across the country.
Nearly 2,700 individuals participated in 43 screenings. Screen- ing events brought together community members to watch Apart and discuss the film with individuals leading local efforts in their communities to change harsh sentencing laws and support individuals who have been incarcerated and their families. Many panelists and moderators at the events had personally been impacted by incarceration.
Independent Lens encourages partners to provide honoraria to speakers to compensate them for their time and expertise. Independent Lens provided 21 Apart partners microgrants ranging from $400 to $2,000 to help cover the cost of hono- raria and event advertisement, equipment, and staffing for participating in its community screening program.
2,698
Screening Participants
43
Independent Lens Screenings & Community Discussions
21
Microgrants to Screening Partners
1.5 M+
Viewers Across the Country Watched Apart on Independent Lens Platforms
30 DAYS
Free Streaming
How Did Apart Impact Audiences
We asked Apart viewers to share what they learned from the film and what actions they planned to take after watching via the Independent Lens interactive feedback platform, DocSCALE. We heard from 650 Apart viewers.
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Seventy-five percent of viewers indicated that they learned about the effects of incarceration on families from watching Apart, and nearly two-thirds learned about the challenges facing women upon reentering society. Moreover, more than half of the viewers learned about rising incarceration rates among women and extreme sentencing laws for drug offenses.
Many viewers planned to encourage others to watch Apart
or to share what they had learned with other members of their community. As one viewer shared, “I will spread this film far and wide with an accompanying discussion of what the groups I share it with can do to facilitate lasting reentry for returning citizens.” -
Viewers connected with the issues raised in Apart. Almost all of the viewers who indicated that they worked for or to reform the criminal legal system, or who were personally impacted by incarceration, indicated that the issues raised in the film were “extremely” or “very” relevant to their community. Importantly, sixty-nine percent of those who had no prior connection to the criminal legal system felt the same way.
Apart not only connected with audiences—it shifted their perspectives of individuals who have substance use disorders or who have been incarcerated. Viewers indicated that, after better understanding the complex challenges faced by the women featured in the film, they will approach members of their community with greater empathy and change how they discuss issues of substance use or incarceration with others.
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We asked viewers: “What is the most significant action you will take after seeing Apart?” The DocSCALE platform then circulated viewers’ ideas to others who could indicate if they planned to take a similar action. More than three-quarters of viewers shared specific actions that they planned to take or indicated they were inspired to take a similar action as another viewer.
Most frequently, viewers shared that they planned to volunteer with or donate to organizations that are supporting mothers who are currently incarcerated or helping women as they reenter society. One event participant summed up the power of the documentary best when they shared: “I will seek to provide restorative practices to empower families of incarcer- ated women and/or those recently released, to help bridge the transition from incarceration to their return home to alleviate stressors that often result during reunification.”
Many viewers planned to contact their elected represen- tatives to advocate for more education and job support services within prisons, and reentry support as individuals transition back into their communities. Others planned to address the root causes of rising incarceration rates by advocating for improved mental health and substance use services in their communities, or changes to harsh sentenc- ing laws for drug offenses.
Moreover, several landlords and employers outlined concrete actions that they will take to make reentry easier, including removing background checks from rental applications and hiring individuals who have been incarcerated
Who Engaged On DOCScale?
Apart Impact Events
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