"Redemption Time" with JustArts
Advertisement
Circle Cinema is partnering with JustArts for a special screening of Redemption Time with filmmaker Q&A on Sun 8/23, 7pm. One night only, tickets on sale now - $11 members, $13 non-members.
Redemption Time is a powerful 70-minute multimedia performance film featuring poet Jimmy Santiago Baca and jazz violinist Christian Howes—two formerly incarcerated artists who reclaimed their lives through art. The film is directed by David Gonzalez, who will join for a Q&A via zoom after the film.
About JustArts: Rooted in a deep belief in the power of creative expression to fuel change, JustArts was launched by Wendy Jason in March 2025 to foster human connection, challenge harmful narratives and systems, and elevate the creative voices of artists who are courageously resisting carceral silencing. Through exhibitions, workshops, consulting services, and collaborative projects, we cultivate spaces where creativity, trust, care, and integrity drive lasting change. Visit JustArtsGallery.com for more.
About the film: 1h10min - Documentary/Live Performance - Not Rated - English
Redemption Time is a 70-minute performance film weaving spoken-word poetry, live jazz, cinematic imagery, and raw personal storytelling into a single, cohesive experience that moves through darkness toward something earned and real. It tells its story through the lens of two formerly incarcerated artists who reclaimed their lives through art. But the reason it lands with audiences who have never seen inside prison is that it speaks to something everyone recognizes: the need to be seen as more than the worst chapter of your life. The desire to belong. The ache of isolation even when you’re surrounded by people. The long, unglamorous work of figuring out who you actually are after the version of yourself you were performing falls apart.
This is not a traditional documentary. There are no talking heads, no narrator explaining what you should feel. Redemption Time is a live performance captured on film, built around the convergence of two men whose lives ran parallel tracks through trauma, loss, and artistic transformation before they ever met. What you witness is Jimmy and Chris on stage together, telling the truth about where they’ve been, what it cost them, and what they found when they stopped running from it.
About David Gonzalez: David Gonzalez is an award-winning storyteller, poet, playwright, performer, and first-time filmmaker whose work explores memory, justice, identity, and the transformative power of art. For more than four decades, he has created acclaimed works that blend poetry, music, theater, and oral storytelling, inviting audiences into conversations about resilience, compassion, and our shared humanity.
His directorial debut, Redemption Time, is a feature concert film featuring acclaimed poet Jimmy Santiago Baca and jazz violinist Christian Howes. Rooted in lived experience, the film explores incarceration, redemption, and the enduring possibility of renewal through poetry and music.
Gonzalez is the recipient of the International Performing Arts for Youth Lifetime Achievement Award for Sustained Excellence, the New Jersey Governor’s Arts Award, and a Joseph Campbell Foundation Fellowship. His stage works have been commissioned and presented by institutions including the Kennedy Center, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, and Broadway’s New Victory Theater, where The Frog Bride received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Unique Theatrical Experience.
A published poet whose collection Soundings was nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Gonzalez holds a Ph.D. in Music Therapy from New York University. Whether working on stage or on screen, he creates deeply human experiences that invite audiences to listen more closely, imagine more generously, and engage more fully with one another.
Redemption Time is a powerful 70-minute multimedia performance film featuring poet Jimmy Santiago Baca and jazz violinist Christian Howes—two formerly incarcerated artists who reclaimed their lives through art. The film is directed by David Gonzalez, who will join for a Q&A via zoom after the film.
About JustArts: Rooted in a deep belief in the power of creative expression to fuel change, JustArts was launched by Wendy Jason in March 2025 to foster human connection, challenge harmful narratives and systems, and elevate the creative voices of artists who are courageously resisting carceral silencing. Through exhibitions, workshops, consulting services, and collaborative projects, we cultivate spaces where creativity, trust, care, and integrity drive lasting change. Visit JustArtsGallery.com for more.
About the film: 1h10min - Documentary/Live Performance - Not Rated - English
Redemption Time is a 70-minute performance film weaving spoken-word poetry, live jazz, cinematic imagery, and raw personal storytelling into a single, cohesive experience that moves through darkness toward something earned and real. It tells its story through the lens of two formerly incarcerated artists who reclaimed their lives through art. But the reason it lands with audiences who have never seen inside prison is that it speaks to something everyone recognizes: the need to be seen as more than the worst chapter of your life. The desire to belong. The ache of isolation even when you’re surrounded by people. The long, unglamorous work of figuring out who you actually are after the version of yourself you were performing falls apart.
This is not a traditional documentary. There are no talking heads, no narrator explaining what you should feel. Redemption Time is a live performance captured on film, built around the convergence of two men whose lives ran parallel tracks through trauma, loss, and artistic transformation before they ever met. What you witness is Jimmy and Chris on stage together, telling the truth about where they’ve been, what it cost them, and what they found when they stopped running from it.
About David Gonzalez: David Gonzalez is an award-winning storyteller, poet, playwright, performer, and first-time filmmaker whose work explores memory, justice, identity, and the transformative power of art. For more than four decades, he has created acclaimed works that blend poetry, music, theater, and oral storytelling, inviting audiences into conversations about resilience, compassion, and our shared humanity.
His directorial debut, Redemption Time, is a feature concert film featuring acclaimed poet Jimmy Santiago Baca and jazz violinist Christian Howes. Rooted in lived experience, the film explores incarceration, redemption, and the enduring possibility of renewal through poetry and music.
Gonzalez is the recipient of the International Performing Arts for Youth Lifetime Achievement Award for Sustained Excellence, the New Jersey Governor’s Arts Award, and a Joseph Campbell Foundation Fellowship. His stage works have been commissioned and presented by institutions including the Kennedy Center, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, and Broadway’s New Victory Theater, where The Frog Bride received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Unique Theatrical Experience.
A published poet whose collection Soundings was nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Gonzalez holds a Ph.D. in Music Therapy from New York University. Whether working on stage or on screen, he creates deeply human experiences that invite audiences to listen more closely, imagine more generously, and engage more fully with one another.
Advertisement
Where is it happening?
Circle Cinema, 10 S Lewis Ave, Tulsa, OK 74104-1615, United States
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
Host or PublisherCircle Cinema
