The best documentary films grab you from frame one, take you along on a journey through both the facts and the feelings about a very specific subject, and stay with you long after. Westville-based filmmaker Travis Carbonella mesmerized a packed room at Lotta Studio Wednesday evening with a documentary that is not even 100 percent completed, yet has already proved itself to be one that stood up to and above those parameters.
The work in progress, featuring Barbara Fair, executive director of Stop Solitary CT, was shown as part of this year’s week’s‑worth of events for Westville Art Walk.
The screening, open and free to the public, was not only the first time it had been shown to anyone. It was also the first time Fair herself would be seeing it.
“Art Walk was my push to get it to this point, and I’m really grateful,” said Carbonella, who began shooting the film with social justice activist Fair back in October 2023. The version shown Thursday evening ran an hour and 15 minutes, featuring Fair as well as members of her family and her associates from Stop Solitary CT as well as politicians and others working with her (and some not with her) in her efforts to create a healthier and safer environment for incarcerated people in the state’s correctional system.
The film centers on the challenges met by the choosing of an ombudsperson for the State of CT Correction Advisory Committee, for which Fair was one of the nominees. But the film covers much more than that. While we see Fair’s persistence in making sure the process is handled in a way that results in the best possible outcome for the people it is meant to support, we also learn about her lifelong work as an advocate for incarcerated people, most specifically with Stop Solidarity CT.
That organization’s website states that they “came together to end the use of solitary confinement and abuse against incarcerated children, women, and men across Connecticut” and that they are “working to significantly improve conditions incarcerated people face and transform those spaces into ones that center humanity and rehabilitation.”
Carbonella’s film centers humanity as well as he juxtaposes the work being done by Fair at the Capitol and during news conferences and other politically centered events with gatherings at Whitneyville Cultural Commons, both vital processes in the life of this woman who gathers and inspires so many others to the cause. Signs and shirts that hold a heart with the words “Because WE Matter” are shown as well as other signs held up behind Fair each time she speaks publicly. Signs read “None of us are safe until all of us are safe” and “We are the voice of the unheard and unseen.” The impact of these words as she herself speaks for the people is immediate and lasting.
Another moving scene features a woman telling the story of her brother, who was ill and died while incarcerated. The room was mostly silent during the film, locked in to the stories being spoken and the experiences being witnessed, but there was also laughter when something wonderful and positive happened, including during the lighter moments at the gatherings. There was also cheering for Fair many times as she spoke.
“You have to keep fighting hard,” she said. “I am never going to feel defeated.”
For its entire run time the film is riveting, inspiring the viewer to consider more deeply the plight of incarcerated people across the state and beyond who are unjustly treated and not receiving medical care that they may need. Don’t they deserve the same consideration and care as everyone else? Is humanity not a universal right? These are the questions this film raises and has the viewer contemplating throughout and beyond.
As the film ended, someone in the audience said “Wow, Travis, that was awesome.” Carbonella received a standing ovation, and he welled up with tears as he did while introducing the film. It was an obvious labor of love, a film made with reverence for Fair, for her work, and for the people she does the work for. He invited her forward to speak; she received a standing ovation as well. She spoke of the work she continues to do for others, as well as her son, who was also impacted by the system.
“Not only do I do it for him, but I do it for other sons and daughters,” she said.
“I can’t go to sleep at night knowing that this is happening.”
“Everybody here is in it,” Carbonella said. “This was made here. It’s real local storytelling that I think is really important.”
