Date: Thursday, May 14th
Reception: 6pm
Film + Discussion: 7pm

Location: Annie May Swift Hall – Auditorium
1920 Campus Drive, Evanston IL 60208
Link to interactive campus map. Complimentary parking in the open air lot after 4pm. Free and open to the public.

Co-presented with the Northwestern Prison Education Program

Join us in celebrating 2025 Fellow Emilia Tamayo’s expanded Pritzker Pucker Studio Lab documentary Just Like Us.

Hand-drawn birthday cards, photographs and carefully crafted letters are just a few of the ways that students incarcerated in Chicago–the wrongful conviction capital of the country–find to overcome the barriers separating them from their loved ones in this documentary created for and by them.

“I still want to be just like him.”

With these words, Angel speaks to his uncle Hugo in this documentary that moves between Chicago and Sheridan Correctional Center, Illinois. Students incarcerated at the facility developed this project to confront the systemic barriers that separate families, to use storytelling as resistance, and to “reclaim our humanity.” Through poetry, Ian grapples with the hardship of laughing with a dad on the phone everyday who he has not seen in 16 years. Through art, high school sweethearts Ariel and Adilene tell the story of their wedding that took place in a correctional visitation room. Through letters, Darion embodies exemplary fatherhood, grandfatherhood and kinship. Through each birthday card, Thomas and his mom navigate grief and academic opportunities. And so, like Hugo, each student affirms the “incontestable bond” of family and the meaningful relationships that have supported them despite incarceration.

Featuring Ariel Bueno, Hugo Ocon, Ian Valencia, Darion Nance, Thomas Gordon, Abdul-Malik Muhammad, Jeffery Campbell, Lynn Octavius Green, Darvin Henderson and their families.

Followed by discussion with director Emilia Tamayo, editor Janeth Covarrubias Pérez, Northwestern Prison Education Program (NPEP) Director Jennifer Lackey, and NPEP graduate Broderick Hollins. Moderated by PPSL Director Ines Sommer. 

About Emilia Tamayo:

Emilia Tamayo (ella/she) is a 2025 Pritzker Pucker Studio Lab Fellow and doctoral student in Screen Cultures at Northwestern University, pursuing the Certificate in Latin American and Caribbean Studies and the Public Humanities Cluster. She teaches for the Northwestern Prison Education Program, where she is a Graduate Student Advisory Councilmember. Her research considers the visual culture of carceral filmmaking, displacement and abolition. Her filmmaking seeks to amplify public access to these themes. She holds an M.A. in Screen Cultures from Northwestern University, and a dual B.A. in Latin American Studies and Government from Smith College.

Support given by the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program.