The Making of Beyond Survival
Winter 2021
Women & Justice Project (WJP) and Kashif Incubator embark on a journey to create a documentary about New York’s pioneering sentencing reform law – the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act (DVSJA).
Spotlighting the critical work by survivors, attorneys, and other advocates to implement the law and bring survivors home, especially the work of Survivors Justice Project (SJP).
September 2022
We travel to Westchester to film our first interview with former New York State Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson, lead sponsor of the DVSJA from 2011 to 2016.
October 2022
We interview Rev. Sharon White-Harrigan, Director of Women’s Community Justice Association, DVSJA campaign leader, and survivor who spent 11 years in prison as a result of experiencing domestic violence.
We interview Serena Martin, Director of New Hour for Women & Children, key DVSJA campaign organizer, and survivor who is formerly incarcerated.
January 2023
We travel to New York’s capital, Albany, to interview State Assemblymember Jeffrion Aubry, DVSJA lead sponsor from 2011 to 2019.
We also interview State Senator Roxanne Persaud, DVSJA lead sponsor from 2016 to 2019.
We interview Monica Szlekovics, SJP Director of Operations & Programs and a survivor of gender-based violence and long-term incarceration.
February 2023
We interview Kate Mogulescu, SJP Legal & Policy Director and Brooklyn Law School clinical professor who represents survivors in DVSJA cases.
We interview Anisah Sabur, SJP advisor, key DVSJA campaign organizer, and survivor who experienced incarceration.
March 2023
We interview Tommy Burns, survivor who was resentenced under the DVSJA after serving almost 26 years in prison.
We interview Judge Marcy Kahn, retired Associate Justice of the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Judicial Department.
April 2023
We travel to New York’s Supreme Court to interview Judge Debra James who serves as a Justice in the Court’s First Judicial Department Civil Branch.
June 2023
We travel to Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, New York’s maximum-security prison for women, to interview Myeshia Hawkins-Taylor, SJP advisor and survivor who is serving a sentence of 16 years after being denied relief under the DVSJA.
October 2023
We interview Alan Rosenthal, criminal defense attorney, key advisor on DVSJA legislation, and expert on DVSJA implementation.
We interview Jody Ann Hemmings, SJP advisor and survivor who served 11 years of a 14-year sentence before being granted relief under the DVSJA.
Myeshia receives clemency, an extremely rare executive action in New York State. WJP, SJP and Kashif travel to Bedford Hills Correctional Facility to meet Myeshia as she leaves prison after 7½ years.
February 2024
We interview Kisha McCoy, SJP Outreach Specialist and survivor who served 16 years of a 25-years to life sentence before coming home under the DVSJA.
We interview Myeshia again, this time in the community where she continues her advocacy work.
October 2024
The film is completed! In honor of survivors who persevere through abuse and incarceration to not just survive, but thrive, we title the film Beyond Survival.
November 2, 2024
We mark the 5th anniversary of the DVSJA and the leadership of survivors by organizing an event to premiere Beyond Survival. Nearly 450 people are in attendance.
Professional photography by Keith Major
