105 minutes / 2020
Director / Producer / Cinematographer
Filmed for over three years, JACINTA begins at the Maine Correctional Center where Jacinta, 26, and her mother Rosemary, 46, are incarcerated together, both recovering from drug addiction. As a child, Jacinta became entangled in her mother’s world of drugs and crime and has followed her in and out of the system since she was a teenager. This time, as Jacinta is released from prison, she hopes to maintain her sobriety and reconnect with her own daughter, Caylynn, 10, who lives with her paternal grandparents. Despite her desire to rebuild her life for her daughter, Jacinta continually struggles against the forces that first led to her addiction. With unparalleled access and a gripping vérité approach, director Jessica Earnshaw paints a deeply intimate portrait of mothers and daughters and the effects of trauma over generations.
Available on: Hulu (US), Disney Plus (Canada), Amazon Prime, Google Play, Apple TV and Vimeo On Demand (Internationally).
SELECTED PRESS:
“This durational portrait is undeniably affecting.” — The New York Times Critic’s Pick, Beatrice Loayza
“Jessica Earnshaw’s moving documentary follows a young mother’s difficulty returning to the outside world after spending time in prison.” — The Wall Street Journal, John Anderson
“‘Jacinta’ is perceptive and persuasive. But it comes into its real, peculiar power as a portrait of a young woman trying to be a better mother than the mother she worships….. [A] gripping, characterful doc debut.” — Variety, Jessica Kiang
“A searingly honest portrait of kinship and addiction….A hard-hitting and heartbreaking documentary…. Reveals the extent to which people can surprise us — especially people we’ve written off as just another sad statistic, as another victim of America’s ongoing and relentless opioid epidemic.” — The Hollywood Reporter, Jordan Mintzer
**Rated A**…. A profound meditation on the troubling intersection between addiction and incarceration…. Overflowing with humanity.” — The Playlist, Christian Gallichio
AWARDS:
Albert Maysles Best New Documentary Director Award, Tribeca Film Festival (2020) Critics Choice Jury Special Mention, Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival (2020) Best US Feature Winner, Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival (2020) Best Documentary Feature Winner, Mountainfilm (2021) Best Feature Film, Doqumenta International Documentary Film Festival (2021) Cinema Eye Honors, Unforgettables (2021)
SELECT FESTIVAL SCREENINGS:
Tribeca Film Festival, 2020 Camden International Film Festival, 2020 Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, 2020 New Orleans Film Festival, 2020 Doc NYC Film Festival, 2020 IDFA International Film Festival, 2020 Woodstock Film Festival, 2020. Zurich Film Festival, 2020 AFI Festival, 2020 Women's Film Festival, 2020 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, 2021 Cleveland International Film Festival, 2021 Mountain Film Festival, 2021 Athena Film Festival, 2021 Florida Film Festival, 2021 Milwaukee Film Festival, 2021. Doqumenta International Film Festival, 2021 Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival, 2021 Oslo Pix Film Festival, 2021