This is the third in a series focusing on the 18th Alexandria Film Festival scheduled in several locations around the city from Nov. 7-10.
The 100 film submissions have been evaluated and 58 filmmakers notified of their acceptance including eight local filmmakers. Currently the films are being arranged by theme and venue, and the schedule is expected to be published on Oct. 1. The films will be shown at Beatley Library on Duke Street, the Alexandria History Museum at The Lyceum in Old Town and NOVA Alexandria Campus Auditorium on Dawes Street. https://alexfilmfest.com/
Interview with Mabel Malhotra, creator and producer of “From Ashes to Hope.”
Q. What is your film background?
A. I attended the University of Wisconsin Madison in film and psychology. I had made a few shorter journalistic films in the past before this one. But this 33 minute film I consider to be my first fully independent capstone created for my final project at school.
Q. Describe your film.
This is a documentary that highlights four formerly incarcerated people in Wisconsin, one Menomonee Indian from the reservation, two from Madison and one in Milwaukee. I happened to be taking a course in film development but I came up with the idea for this film with a professor who had connections with the incarcerated community. The four featured in my film had a variety of experiences that got them put in prison and a variety of experiences while in prison but what they had in common was the peer support they received while they were there. They went through a lot of personal transformation. A lot of people helped them so they went on to help others in the community upon their release. I talked to all of them afterwards and one thing they had in common was a lot of desire to return to prison. The choices are limited when you get out. Tony called the prison transporter to take her back. She didn’t have a job and didn’t know what to do. Luckily the prison put her call on hold and never came back so eventually she hung up the phone. She went on to start a ministry for people coming out of prison dealing with domestic violence. There was no one in prison to talk to about it, and when she was in prison she saw the gap and filled it by creating programs there.
Q. What were the challenges in creating the film?
I didn’t have the resources to know how the industry does this, how to make the subject feel comfortable and how to gain their trust in the 1-2 days I had with each of them. They were recalling really personal experiences telling their stories and they had been exploited in the past. In the beginning it was hard for me to show them they could trust me. I have a great relationship with them now. Some of them have come to talk on a panel after the film’s screening in the Wisconsin Film Festival. They were grateful for their stories being told.
Q. Take me back to your childhood. When did you know this is what you wanted to do?
I’ve always been a huge photophile. I’ve always loved using a camera, interviewing people, making videos since I was a kid. In high school I made a video for the newspaper. I explored it more in college. I’ve always had a passion for social justice. It came from growing up in D.C. in a diverse high school with a lot of people who cared about making the world a better place. I learned what people are motivated by. I took a course in the criminal justice system and learned that most of the people who were incarcerated were not bad people but people who had experienced trauma.
Q. What next?
Since February I have been working for the Minnesota Justice Research Center making a documentary for them going into community focus groups on how the pre-trial systems could be better. This will lead to making legislative recommendations. I feel still involved in the social justice work but in a different way. I would love to make another film but I would like to work with a team. I’d like to grow, and I don’t have the resources available that I had as a student. One thing that really was clear to me when I was making this film is that the Department of Corrections works to improve themselves but it was really the peer groups that made the difference. It’s really a beautiful thing but at the same time sad that the prisoner has to take on the work of lifting themselves up.