Dreaming Beyond Rikers

FOR VENIDA, FOR KALIEF Film & The People's Forum Present : Dreaming Beyond Rikers
Tribeca Festival 2025 Official Selection for U.S. Documentary Competition, FOR VENIDA, FOR KALIEF debuts the poetry of Venida Brodnax Browder, mother of Kalief Browder, and weaves a lyrical and cinematic mosaic connecting past, present, and future while exploring the movement to transform Rikers Island- the world’s most notorious J*il- into a renewable energy center. Full film synopsis below.
Please join us for a poetic and empowering afternoon at The People’s Forum! Following the film screening, there will be a panel and organizing workshop featuring local advocates from the Campaign to Close Rikers, Freedom Agenda, the Jails Action Coalition, HALT Solitary and more to help facilitate a deeper conversation about the current status of the complete plan to close Rikers Island J*il and organizing to push for its closure by the legally-mandated deadline of August 31, 2027. We will also visualize and plan for the next phase of the closing plan that is also approved and legally-mandated - the creation of Renewable Rikers in its place.
The panel and workshop will be followed by poetry performances by featured artists TBD as well as an open mic.
The event is free and open to the public with RSVP and a suggested donation. Light refreshments will be served. Space is limited; advance registration is required below.
FILM SYNOPSIS
FOR VENIDA, FOR KALIEF (95 minutes) delves into the profound legacy of Kalief Browder, who at age 16 was sent to New York’s notorious Rikers Island J*il complex for allegedly stealing a backpack. After three years of solitary confinement, he was released without charge, but later committed suicide at the age of 22. At the heart of this narrative is his mother, Venida Brodnax Browder, who found solace in writing poetry before dying from broken heart syndrome. FOR VENIDA, FOR KALIEF is a cinematic mosaic, an immersive journey connecting past, present, and future that is balanced between contemporary verite and vivid poetic interludes and rare archival imagery that take us back to the untold story of the Citywide J*il Rebellion of 1970 led by the Black Panthers and Young Lords. Taking an unconventional and liminal approach, the film explores how the carceral system is a vicious cycle, and that an individual’s life - and afterlife - can expand exponentially to create societal change previously considered unattainable.

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