Pens to Pictures from Dayton Correctional

This past year, five films were made in partnership between women in Dayton Correctional Institution (DCI)and the Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Pennsylvania artist communities. This collective project became what is now Pens to Pictures.

Pens to Pictures is a film-making collaborative that teaches and empowers incarcerated women to make their own short films, from script to screen.

During its inaugural year in 2016, founder, Chinonye Chukwu, taught an 8-week screenwriting intensive to participants, guiding them in the writing and revising of an original, short screenplay. Then under her facilitation, they collaborated with community artists, including local area film students, to help them shoot their films throughout Ohio.

All pre-production logistics were confirmed by participants. After the films were shot, the footage was brought into DCI and participants worked with a professional post-production team from Ohio State University’s Wexner Center to finish their films.

These films are now screening in prisons, community spaces, schools, festivals and beyond in 2017. DCI will begin a new cycle of productions in 2018.