Children who don't learn to read are sentenced to a lifetime of struggle.
The motivation behind the film is simple – over 43 million Americans can't read well enough to get a job and support a family. The film posits there are actually no illiterate children, just children who haven't learned to read yet. Sentenced exposes this tragic reality and presents a solution for overcoming failing systems and preventing kids from disappearing into society's margins.
Filmed from the point of view of ethnically diverse adults and children who have never learned to read, SENTENCED is a forceful yet tender tale of how literacy can free children from the cycles of generational poverty.
Illiterate, unemployable, ex-con. A truly loving father, who is passing his “life sentence” on to his children: He is devastated.
This courageous and compassionate young woman has been extracted from the American Dream: WORDLESS, JOBLESS, HOUSELESS, HOPELESS... STUCK.
Imprisoned to the projects, this single MOTHER-OF-FOUR is daring the impossible dream that her children will achieve what she never will.
This heroin addict's son, Ruben, escorts her every day to the Methadone Clinic. She doesn't work and he doesn't go to school: illiterate mother creates illiterate son.
THIS HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT, product of the streets, learned to read in prison. Now he refuses to watch the next generation be forgotten as he was.
A WIDOW, nearly crushed by life, finds her own salvation by becoming a reading mentor.
PRODUCER
Jeff Martin is a producer of award-winning, high impact and culture changing films including UNDIVIDED, A RIVER BETWEEN US and LORD, SAVE US FROM YOUR FOLLOWERS. Jeff is the Founder of Children's Literacy Project an organization that utilizes film to bring much needed resources and volunteers to our most at-risk Public Schools.
DIRECTOR
Connor Martin lives in Oregon working as a commercial and narrative director for internationally recognized brands including Old Spice,
Dr Pepper, NFL, Microsoft, Weiden & Kennedy, and many more. SENTENCED marks Connor's debut as a feature documentary director.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Tony Kriz is a theologian, professor, award- winning author, international speaker and filmmaker. His influence extends from Eastern Europe to Portland, OR, from Yale University to the Southern Baptists, conservative and progressive think-tanks alike.
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