Tribeca Winning Documentary THE RETURN to Debut on PBS 5/23

THE RETURN, the remarkable and timely new documentary film from three-time Emmy nominated filmmakers Kelly Duane de la Vega and Katie Galloway, will have its national television debut on the PBS series POV on Monday, May 23 at 10 PM. (Check local listings.)?

This deeply moving film, which won the Audience Award at the Tribeca Film Festival last month, examines unprecedented criminal sentencing reforms. The film asks: At a moment of reckoning on mass incarceration, what can California's experiment teach the nation?

As the filmmakers write in their filmmaker statement: "The Return explores the impact of unjust policies at every level of society: for individuals, families and communities and in the legal and prison systems...The Return is designed to amplify the national conversation around this horrific human rights issue. We sincerely hope the film will inspire further efforts to correct the terrible injustice of misguided sentencing laws. While The Return tells individual stories, we must respond as a community and a country."

The Return film team recently participated in a White House event on expanding fair chance opportunities. And just last month, The White House released a report on "Economic Perspectives on Incarceration and the Criminal Justice System". Some of the findings: Today, the incarcerated population is 4.5 times larger than in 1980, with approximately 2.2 million people in the United States behind bars. Interactions with the criminal justice system are disproportionately concentrated among Blacks and Hispanics, poor individuals and individuals with high rates of mental illness and substance abuse.

The trailer is available here: http://www.pbs.org/pov/thereturn/