TURN THE PAGE

TURN THE PAGE examines the fractured relationship between incarcerated parents and children left behind, through the lens of a jail-based literacy program called, Storybook, at Ontario County Jail. More than 2.7 million children in the US have an incarcerated parent and approximately 10 million children have experienced parental incarceration at some point in their lives.

The Ontario County Jail in Western New York is a modern facility sitting amongst vast farmland in a community, not unlike many other communities, across the U. S. It houses inmates for several months to several years. However, twice a month at this facility, volunteers of the Storybook Program assist inmates who are moms and dads, as they record themselves, through tears and laughter, reading children’s books onto audiocassettes. These taped ‘Bedtime Stories,’ along with the actual books, are then sent to the inmates’ children help maintain connection. For many, this may be their only connection during this confusing and stressful period of separation.

  • Linda Moroney
    Producer
    THE LAST DALAI LAMA?, RAM DASS FIERCE GRACE, SET SET SPIKE, SAINT MISBEHAVIN,
  • Ray Manard
    Producer
    SIGNS OF THE TIME
  • Don Casper
    Producer
    SIGNS OF THE TIME
  • Emily Hubley -Animator
    Key Cast
    HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, BLUE VINYL, THE TOE TACTIC, VESSEL
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    1 hour
  • Completion Date:
    October 31, 2015
  • Production Budget:
    75,000 USD
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    HD
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography

Linda Moroney was a producer on the independent feature-length documentary, RAM DASS FIERCE GRACE, named by Newsweek magazine as one of the five best non-fiction films of 2002, and broadcast nationally on PBS (Independent Lens) in 2004. www.lemlepictures.com

This year she has completed two films. She produced and directed TURN THE PAGE, is an hour-long documentary about a literacy program for incarcerated parents at Ontario County Jail and their children on the outside. She is also the producer a feature-length documentary on the 14th Dalai Lama, by director Mickey Lemle, which recently premiered at the Maui Film Festival and will continue to screen at film festivals this Fall.

Since 2012, Ms. Moroney has been the programmer and host for One Take: Stories Through the Lens, the monthly documentary series at the historic Little Theatre. www.thelittle.org

For five years, she served as Director of Greentopia | FILM, a five day non-fiction film festival, centering on all issuing of sustainability.

Ms. Moroney is the founder of the Rochester Documentary Filmmakers Group, co-founder of the Rochester Teen Film Festival & the Rochester Teen Film Camp, and teaches documentary film at St. John Fisher College.

She was the Managing Director/Programmer for the 360 | 365 Film Festival (2010 and 2011 editions). In 2007, she was the curator for Animated Jazz Shorts from The Hubley Studio, which was a co-presentation by the Rochester International Jazz Festival, Rochester/High Falls Film Festival, and George Eastman House.

She has produced several short films including Emily Hubley’s award-winning SET SET SPIKE (2001), which was an official selection in the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. She cut her filmmaking teeth working with Academy Award winner, Faith Hubley, on her last six animated films.

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Director Statement

One morning, I was reading the local newspaper and saw a short story about a woman (Claire Kremer) who was receiving a potted plant for being a “Bold Woman of Courage” from a church in Rochester, NY. Claire had founded the Storybook Program at Ontario County Jail, as a way for incarcerated parents to stay connected to their children during their separation.

After reading about a similar program in Texas, she rounded up literacy volunteers, bought a selection of childrens’ books and tape recorders, and entered the jail twice a month to assist the parents’ audio recording themselves reading these stories.

After I started filmed, I realized how much larger the issue of parental incarceration really was and incorporated that into the movie. The numbers are devastating and it doesn’t seem to be changing away anytime soon.

As a mom, I wondered what the Storybook Program would mean to me if I ever found myself locked up. As a filmmaker, I thought, sure, give this woman a potted plant, but there is also an important story here, too.