Award-Winning Documentary Filmmaker Visits Senior Seminar

Students in Shelly Kaye’s 12th grade English seminar were treated to a fascinating presentation from filmmaker, musician and entrepreneur Andrew Jarecki.

Best known for creating the Emmy-winning documentary series “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst,” Jarecki is passionate about the issue of prison reform, a topic that the seniors in Kaye’s class are concentrating on for the duration of the semester-long course. 

Titled Prison Literature, the seminar focuses on the analysis of data that shows that the United States of America represents roughly five percent of the world’s population yet incarcerates 25% of the world’s prisoners. Students are reading works of literature that deal with the topic of imprisonment and debating issues such as the cost of confinement and practices in the prison system that affect the underprivileged. “This year’s class is interested in bail reform, and how the current system of bail disproportionately affects people of color, people without a network or suffering from mental illness,” Kaye explained.

In his presentation, Jarecki spoke about his path to becoming a filmmaker, his work on “The Jinx” and other film projects, and his advocacy for prison reform, a subject that he became passionate about as he delved into the life of Robert Durst, a real estate heir accused of three murders. Jarecki shared his personal story of visiting and seeing the conditions of American prisons, describing the experiences as “incredibly powerful” and noting that the conditions most American inmates live in are “shockingly bad.” Despite the enormity of the issue, Jarecki encouraged the students to stay optimistic and advocate for change, saying that “There are a lot of people that want to make it better.”

“It was very interesting to hear about how Mr. Jarecki is using his artistic voice to spread awareness about the social justice issues we are learning about in class,” Jessica Jacobs ’20 said. Her classmate Leo Hsu ’20 shared a similar sentiment: “I thought his story was very insightful and also makes me want to be a filmmaker myself.”

The course will culminate with a self-designed service-learning experience. “I hope the students are inspired to move forward with their own social justice work and understand that everyone can make a difference,” said Kaye. 

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