Case Study: Songs From The Hole

On Thursday, September 25, from 4-5 p.m. ET, Firelight Media hosted a YouTube Live virtual Beyond Resilience conversation diving into a case study of the Firelight Media-supported documentary visual album Songs From The Hole, plotting the film team’s journey from idea to impact. Joined by the film team and moderated by Firelight Media President & CEO Loira Limbal, the conversation uplifts how activists can use documentary films as vessels to transform communities, designing a curriculum with a focus on systemic change, and unpacking the intimate (and ethical) relationship between filmmaker and protagonist.

Accessibility Notice: This event recording includes auto-generated closed captions.

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Savvy young activists, like the team behind the Netflix documentary Songs From The Hole, are leveraging the cultural reach of documentary film to scale years-long efforts toward systemic change. Filmmaker Contessa Gayles, producer richie reseda, and protagonist and writer JJ’88 have long advocated for prison abolition and restorative justice, but their collaboration on Songs has reaped tangible results: Incarcerated folks across California who watch the film and engage in its curriculum are eligible for a one-week reduction in their sentence. And across the country, the team has tied screenings of the film to a “healing plan” that challenges notions of domination and power, safety, and community.

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As part of our 2025 Beyond Resilience series, we are publishing case studies of films and impact campaigns by Firelight Media-supported filmmakers in order to provide a detailed overview of the filmmaker's journey from ideation to research and development to production to post-production, distribution, and impact and engagement.

The case study, authored by Beyond Resilience Series Producer Sian-Pierre Regis, features candid interviews with filmmaker Contessa Gayles, film protagonist and writer JJ'88, and producer richie reseda.

Case study highlights include:

Collaborating with an incarcerated protagonist who was a creative partner throughout the entire production;
The process for financing the $1M+ production budget;
Choosing Netflix as a global distribution partner;
Designing a compelling curriculum around the film that reduces prison time for participants; and
Retaining the rights for the original music in the film despite an all-rights deal.