Chicago is known around the world for its crime and violence, but not everyone who lives there has direct experience with it. The Justice Advisory Council of Cook County (JAC), a department of the Cook County Government dedicated to justice reform, produced a film called Let's Talk Equity to address this issue. The goal was to hear from people who have the most direct contact with the criminal justice system and experience the most crime.
The film follows three outreach workers who led these dialogue sessions in the neighborhoods of Harvey, Englewood, and Garfield Park about both the impacts of crime and the justice system's response to crime in their neighborhoods. What makes the film unique is that everyone in the film has had direct experience with crime and violence both in front of and behind the cameras. Each outreach worker was formerly incarcerated and now works with justice reform and outreach groups to build communities. The film covers a wide range of experiences and stories, including that of a former police officer who arrested her own son.
The film brings to life some of the practices and values of the restorative justice movement. Restorative justice is an alternative approach to the punitive approach that the majority of the world currently practices. One way to describe restorative justice is a relationship-based approach to accountability within communities. The film itself was produced in-relationship with the JAC and many of the subjects who appear in the film. This is unique because many forms of art do not prioritize the relationship between the subjects and the artists. The subject of a film rarely has any involvement in the way that they are portrayed.
Local Legend Films, a documentary studio that practices restorative justice and employs young people who have survived gun violence, created the film. Behind the scenes, the team faced challenges while producing the film. One assistant editor was arrested and found himself in front of one of the outreach workers in the film at bond court. The outreach worker was then able to advocate for the editor with the judge. Another filmmaker almost got mugged while filming footage of the Garfield Park neighborhood but was able to use his licensed firearm to keep the robbers at bay while he made a safe getaway. Sadly, one of the individuals in the Englewood segment of the film passed away before he could see the finished product.
Jayme Joyce is an award-winning entrepreneur and Founder of social enterprise company Local Legend Films, a documentary film company committed to employing young people directly impacted by gun violence.
Jayme has worked in various capacities on dozens of films, most notably as a camera operator for the Oscar-nominated documentary, Finding Vivian Maier. In addition, she was the second unit Assistant Director on the critically acclaimed documentary film, Girl Rising and a Producer on the authorized biopic, George Romero, An Independent Man, which premiered in Spain at the Sitges Film Festival in the fall of 2018.
Currently, she is directing a restorative justice road trip film, Red Summer Project, and a producer of the film, Lead Never Follow, a documentary series about the Leaders streetwear brand.
Additionally, Jayme has juried the Chicago International Film Festival, worked for seven years at the Sundance Film Festival, and served on the board of the Chicago chapter of Women in Film for four years.