Today, Odyssey Impact has announced its partnership with filmmaker Rudy Valdez to execute a social impact campaign for the award-winning documentary The Sentence. The film showcases firsthand the devastating consequences of mandatory minimum drug sentencing through Valdez's storytelling of his older sister Cindy and their family's experience over 10 years. The Sentence won the Audience Award for U.S. Documentary at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and earned Valdez an EMMY® at this year's awards for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking. It was also recently nominated for a Cinema Eye Award in the Broadcast Film category.
"I'm very excited to be collaborating with Odyssey Impact on such a vital campaign. The dream has always been to make this film accessible to as many people as possible. Our mission is to call attention to the desperate need for change and inspire communities to work together to make that change happen," said Rudy Valdez.
Odyssey Impact consists of a team of exceptional film and social justice professionals who believe that powerful documentaries can motivate people to do great things. Odyssey Impact strategically builds and executes social impact campaigns around award-winning documentaries to inspire people of all faiths and good will to engage with their communities on important issues in their lives.
The Sentence explores the story of Cindy Shank, a mother of three young children serving a 15-year sentence in federal prison for her tangential involvement in a Michigan drug ring years before. A lyrical, intimate story documented over 10 years by Cindy's younger brother, filmmaker Rudy Valdez, The Sentence follows Cindy's struggles to be present in her children's lives from behind bars and her daughters' experiences growing up without their mother at home, while her husband, parents and siblings fight for her release before the last months of the Obama administration's Clemency Project. After winning the 2018 Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival The Sentence was acquired by HBO.
One of the main aspects of The Sentence's campaign that Odyssey Impact will focus on is assisting advocates, policy makers, students and change makers of all kinds to find opportunities to host screenings in community organizations, places of worship and college campuses. These screenings will engage new audiences on issues related to mandatory minimum sentencing policies, parental incarceration and community reentry.
Odyssey Impact mobilizes individuals, communities of all faiths, change makers, influencers, and private sector partners to nurture justice, hope, compassion and understanding. Odyssey Impact executes robust national grassroots campaigns and local events informed by extensive research and partnerships. They have partnered on campaigns with organizations like the ACLU, Google, The Vera Institute of Justice, NAACP, Fuller Theological Seminary, Emory University, WISDOM, Healing Communities USA and more.
