Newspapers and film festivals, a productive collaboration
In early 2025, CCWF Paper Trail was approached by members of the San Quentin Film Festival (SQFF) about co-hosting their signature film festival at Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF).
As an editorial board, we had to decide if this was a project we wanted to take on and whether it would bring value to CCWF and CCWF Paper Trail. After some deliberation, we agreed.
But why, you might wonder, would a newspaper partner with a film festival? At first glance, our purposes seem so different. One works in print to inform and tell stories from the community with verifiable accuracy. The other seeks to share stories visually, both factual and fictional ones, through an imaginative lens.
In our view, the interests aligned because each seeks to showcase the work of incarcerated individuals and demonstrate how healing can occur while in prison.
More than that, though, was the fact that CCWF Paper Trail would have the ability to highlight the groundbreaking work occurring within the institution.
Few, if any, women had been included in the prison journalism space, a space male prisoners have occupied since the late 1800s. And no media center in a women’s facility had been established in the United States until ours was created in 2024. Hosting the SQFF Presents @ CCWF event allowed us to speak out about our experiences creating our newspaper and the excitement we feel in having a platform where we can tell our own stories.
Holding the event in March was also significant since March is women’s history month. We felt it important to speak to this fact, to recognize and uplift women—especially those who are marginalized, unheard, and system-impacted. The film festival allowed us the space to remind everyone at CCWF that their voices and their stories matter.
During the event, it was so gratifying to see all of the guests—inside and outside— interacting and conversing. Many of the participants remarked throughout the event that it felt like a day of freedom, like they were not incarcerated for the hours they were in the gym.
Looking back, we are so proud to have brought this event to CCWF and to shine a bigger spotlight on this institution and the work we are doing. We look forward to producing our own podcasts and eventually films and documentaries, so we can host our own film festival and tell our stories in different ways. And we are excited to see what comes next for CCWF Paper Trail as we grow.
