Angola Do You Hear Us? At PATOIS Film Fest 2023

Founded in 2004 by New Orleans artists and activists, PATOIS has premiered hundreds of powerful social justice-oriented films from around the world while highlighting brilliant local filmmakers and vital local grassroots organizations. PATOIS is dedicated to nurturing the New Orleans' human rights community, supporting the work of local organizers and organizations involved in these struggles, and providing a forum for artistic expression of local and international issues.In addition to the film festival every spring, PATOIS hosts a variety of community screenings, workshops and organizing events all year. Because Patois has always prioritized community accountability, we curate our programming in consultation with a range of New Orleans’ grassroots organizations and community members.

PATOIS: New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival

Screening and Conversation with Local Organizers

The Broad Theater

PATOIS 2023

Join us for PATOIS 2023! Celebrating work for liberation by both local and international organizers on climate change, abolition, Palestine liberation, birth workers, saving public schools, queering the border, and more.

F﻿ilms:Angola Do You Hear Us? Voices From a Plantation Prison - 27 minutes. Directed by Cinque Northern. The story of a disrupted theatrical performance at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. A 2023 Academy Awards Shortlist for Best Documentary Short Film.End Plantation Prisons - 20 minutes. Directed by Sara Gozalo. Today, nearly 30,000 people in Louisiana are serving hard labor sentences and forced to work. These are some of their stories.Post-screening discussion with formerly incarcerated people and organizers working to end carceral systems in Louisiana. Norris Henderson will introduce Angola Do You Hear Us, a film he was one of the producers on.Norris Henderson, Founder and Executive Director, VOTE: Norris Henderson is the Founder and Executive Director of both VOTE and our sister organization, Voters Organized to Educate. Norris is a former OSI Soros Justice Fellow and has had tremendous success impacting public policy and discourse about reentry, police accountability, public defense for poor and indigent people, and reforming the notorious Orleans Parish Prison (OPP), also known as the Orleans Justice Center (OJC). In 2018, Norris served as the statewide campaign director for the Unanimous Jury Coalition, a ballot campaign that ended non-unanimous juries, and thus Jim Crow’s last stand in Louisiana. As someone who was wrongfully incarcerated for 27 years, Norris shares firsthand experience of racism and brutality of the criminal justice system with communities of color across Louisiana. He was a jailhouse lawyer, a co-founder of the Angola Special Civics Project, and a trailblazer for freeing other wrongfully convicted people prior to the inception of the Innocence Project. While incarcerated, Norris co-founded a hospice program and also drafted a successful parole reform law for Lifers. Norris regularly speaks publicly in support of underprivileged communities in New Orleans and acts as a general liaison to other community organizations in the city. Since his release in 2003 Norris has applied his 27 years of self-taught legal expertise and community organizing skills to a number of leadership positions, including Co-Director of Safe Streets/Strong Communities and Community Outreach Coordinator of the Louisiana Justice Coalition. Norris serves on a number of organizations’ Board of Directors, including Common Justice, and is a co-founder and steering committee member of the Formerly Incarcerated Convicted People and FamiliesMovement, and has received numerous awards in the civil rights community.Angola Program - Panelists:Shon Williams, Outreach Coordinator and Project Assistant, Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights: Shon was born and raised in New Orleans. At 17, Shon was sentenced to a mandatory life sentence in prison. Shon served 26 years in the Louisiana State Penitentiary. With no hope of coming home, Shon tried to make his situation better. During his incarceration, Shon obtained his GED, became a Certified Sign Language Interpreter, and was the first inmate in Louisiana’s Department of Corrections to become a Certified Veterinarian’s Assistant. Shon worked in the prison library until his release in 2019. Shon is a member of the Louisiana Parole Project and the Community Advisory board for the University of New Orleans. Shon joined Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights in 2019; Shon oversees the community outreach program, assists the legal team with a host of projects that have positively impacted the lives of juveniles in the most extreme cases, and counsels’ youth released home or in the community. As an extension of his role as Outreach Coordinator, Shon recently became a Certified Reentry Peer Specialist, which tasks him to support incarcerated or reentering the community after incarceration. Shon is passionate about reforming the juvenile justice system, advocating for the fair treatment of juveniles, and implementing a more structured educational system in the community.Nziki Wiltz, Chapter Organizer with Voice of the Experienced (VOTE): Nziki is a New Orleans native who has cultivated a lifetime of care and support for her community. Since she was young, Nziki knew that she wanted to be an educator. Growing up, she had a strong desire to support the other children in her neighborhood, from making sure that those in need had access to food, to inviting people into her church. On January 24, 2019, Orleans Parish charged Nziki with racketeering with her juvenile son, even though she had no knowledge or involvement with the crime. That sparked a passion in her to fight for the justice reform needed in our community. Shortly after, she became a VOTE member to create that change. Nziki successfully fought the charges and is no longer part of the criminal legal system. Two years later, she is now part of VOTE's Community Organizing Team and working on member engagement and voter registration.Louis Gibson, Resentencing Client Advocate, Orleans Public Defenders: Louis Gibson was 17 years old when he was sent to prison for life, becoming one of the more than 300 people in Louisiana sentenced to die in prison for crimes committed when they were children. Louis began his path to redemption by earning a GED and a diploma in Culinary Arts. Following a thorough vetting process, he was selected for the highly-coveted Louisiana State Police Trusty Program, where for 11 years he worked in one of the most essential and important positions - maintaining Louisiana State Police aircraft at Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport. Made parole eligible through the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions in Miller v. Alabama and Montgomery v. Louisiana, along with Act 277 of the 2017 Louisiana Legislature, Louis was released in August 2018 and became a client in the Parole Project residential reentry and intensive reintegration program. About two months later he began working for Delta Media in Carencro, Louisiana, utilizing his technical skills, before joining Parole Project as a reentry specialist in February 2019. Today, he is a resentencing client advocate at Orleans Public Defenders. Louis believes in the power of second chances and redemption because he has lived it.Are you interested in helping make Patois 2023 a reality? Sign-up to volunteer with us during the festival at bit.ly/patoisteam or make a donation patoisfilmfest.org/support to subsidize tickets for someone else!

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Angola Do You Hear Us? At PATOIS Film Fest 2023

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