fiscal sponsorship
The Sentence (prev. The Sentence Impact Tour)
TYPE: Other
GENRE: Documentary
STATUS: In Distribution
LOGLINE
This intimate portrait of mandatory minimum drug sentencing's devastating consequences, captured by Cindy's brother, follows her and her family over the course of ten years.
SYNOPSIS
Cindy Shank, mother of three, is serving a 15-year sentence in federal prison for her tangential involvement with a Michigan drug ring years earlier. This intimate portrait of mandatory minimum drug sentencing's devastating consequences, captured by Cindy's brother, follows her and her family over the course of ten years.
ARTISTIC STATEMENT
THE SENTENCE draws from hundreds of hours of footage to tell the story of Cindy Shank, a woman who received a 15-year mandatory sentence for conspiracy charges related to crimes committed by her deceased ex-boyfriend?—?something known, in legal terms, as “the girlfriend problem.” Cindy’s brother Rudy Valdez’s method of coping with this tragedy is to film his sister’s family for her, both the everyday details and the milestones?—?moments Cindy herself can no longer share in. In the midst of this nightmare, Valdez finds his voice as both a filmmaker and activist, and he and his family begin to fight for Cindy’s release during the last months of the Obama administration’s clemency initiative. Whether their attempts will allow Cindy to break free of her draconian sentence becomes the aching question at the core of this deeply personal portrait of a family in crisis.
KEY CREW
Su Patel - Social Impact Producer
Suvasini Patel is a communications strategist and social impact producer working at the intersection of media, arts and advocacy. Patel has led education and advocacy campaigns in support of Sundance Film Festival award-winners such as 3 1/2 MINUTES, TEN BULLETS and LIFE, ANIMATED, as well as produced screening tours, outreach and communications strategies and/or fundraising proposals for a host of films and organizations on issues as wide ranging as immigration reform, environmental justice, and criminal justice reform. She'Previously, she led communications efforts at a poverty research center at New York University and at WITNESS, the international human rights group. She also served as the Deputy Director of Special Projects at journalist Bill Moyers' Public Affairs Television and Director of High impact TV at the PBS documentary series, P.O.V.
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