Using lights, a camera and a tried-and-true narrative formula, Matt Nadel produces short films about incarcerated people in New York. His goal? To persuade the governor, Kathy Hochul, to grant his clients clemency.
Thanks to the tough-on-crime zeitgeist that began in the 1980s, governors have often come to view clemency as a political liability rather than an opportunity to give people second chances. Grants of clemency in New York, for example, have plummeted as a result. Filmmakers like Mr. Nadel — hired by lawyers — have become a last resort.
“It feels like I’m trying to hack a broken system,” he says.
But as Mr. Nadel argues in the Opinion Video above, it shouldn’t require such an elaborate production to get people out of prison.
Matt Nadel is a filmmaker and oversees multimedia investigations at the Investigative Reporting Lab at Yale. Jan Kobal is an editor with Opinion Video.
Opinion Video combines original reporting with creative storytelling to produce visually transformative commentary. Pitch a video guest essay here.
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