"JustUs" opens with aerial shots of Des Moines as Cedric B. Theus shares staggering statistics. “Between 1980 and 2021, Iowa saw a 200% increase in incarceration. And while the state’s population is about 4% African American, the prison population is approximately 25% African American. This racial disparity is the result of many factors, including the long history of tough on crime laws.”

In video clips, former Gov. Terry Branstad proudly takes credit for the increased number of people incarcerated and demands to double the number of prison beds, restore the death penalty, and eliminate parole in Iowa; then-U.S. Sen. Joe Biden proudly proclaims new laws against drug dealers and also demands the death penalty. Theus points out that while each man, each representing a major party, has changed his stance on some of these issues, Branstad's and Biden's past policy decisions have contributed to lifetime sentences for many people who committed crimes when they were teenagers.

Opinion:Iowans need more second chances; Kim Reynolds should explore clemency

“I’m one of those people. My name is Ced. I’m a prisoner at Iowa State Penitentiary. This is the story of my community and what we’re doing to help solve Iowa’s incarceration problem.”

"JustUs" had an international crew and professional filming and production. It also has compelling storytelling, including the stories of Dontá McKenzie, released after 23 years in prison, and Charles Brewton, sentenced to 37 years for second-degree robbery but paroled after 12 years. Both are successful married fathers who help youth and people who are in prison and returning citizens. All of which made it easy to see why "JustUs" was an "official selection" for the 2022 Oneota Film Festival and Julien Dubuque International Film Festival.

Theus conceived, co-produced, and directed "JustUs." He narrates over a phone line as an animated version of him goes about activities that support the film's action from his prison cell.

In amazement, I couldn’t help but wonder: How could Theus accomplish all this while a prisoner?

It all started with a dream in early 2019

“I had a dream that I was making a film about something,” Theus told me by phone. “I didn't really know what it was, and I was doing it from prison. But when I woke up at that time, racial disparity was at the forefront of my mind. But also, I was thinking about Dontá's story and what Dontá was doing and how ex-prisoners were helping each other after they were released.” Theus found it amazing how those who were successful out of prison were helping one another find jobs and also giving back to the community, speaking to kids “and doing things that the average person don't know that ex-prisoners do.”

Theus eventually shared the idea with his friend Maya Ben-Shahar.

Ben-Shahar, who had then been pursuing her BA in psychology at Carleton College in Minnesota, had met Theus through writeaprisoner.com while a member of an activist student organization called Carls Against Prison.

Carls Against Prisons suggested ways members could connect with a person currently incarcerated to learn about the experience directly from them, and since Ben-Shahar loved writing letters, the pen-pal idea appealed to her.

Theus’ profile had a quote from "To Kill a Mockingbird" that spoke to understanding things from others’ perspectives. It resonated with Ben-Shahar.

“Basically, it said to me the importance of empathy,” Ben-Shahar said, “and as someone who's studying psychology and always so interested in these questions about empathy and compassion and how we relate to each other, I thought, ‘This person seems deep. I think I want to talk to him.’”

So they started exchanging letters. Ben-Shahar said there was a match in the things they wanted to talk about, such as existential and philosophical questions and talking about their friendships and their families.

Somewhere in the 2½ years of writing, their relationship shifted from “pen-pal-ship” to friendship. Then they started talking on the phone, then meeting in person, and finally working on the film together.

“He said, 'Do you know anyone who could help me with the film project?’” Ben-Shahar said. “I said, ‘Oh, send me whatever you're working on. I'll share it with people.’”

So Theus created a one-page pitch that focused on the statistics and the racial disparity in incarceration.

“He mailed it to me and I had this, like, photocopied folded thing that I shared with a lot of people, trying to find people who would become the producer,” Ben-Shahar said. “Eventually no one became the producer, other than us.”

Neither of them had ever worked on, let alone produced, a film before. But they had determination, conviction, and connections. Theus’ activism over the decades had resulted in relationships with other Iowa activists and professionals, such as lawyers, journalists, social workers, legislators, current and former prisoners and more. Ben-Shahar reached out to those she knew, knew of, or didn’t know at all to help with filming and production, which resulted in an international crew spanning Kenya, Vietnam, China, Taiwan, and beyond.

With a volunteer crew and some funds raised from a GoFundMe campaign to cover some of their travel and food expenses, they were ready to begin filming by summer 2019.

McKenzie was the first one they filmed. “We was in the same cell house and at that time I was a practicing Muslim and we became close from that,” McKenzie said, referring to Theus. “We worked in the kitchen. We had a lot of conversations and I appreciated his friendship, just like I do today. He calls and we talk. And it's just special to me how he got this to happen.”

Theus invited Brewton to share his story and be the executive producer. “Then I just started talking to other people who I knew were out in the community doing public safety work,” Theus said, preferring the specificity of "public safety work" to "activism" or "community work."

It was imperative that everyone involved be affected by the themes in "JustUs." “When they talk about crime stories, it's like, ‘killer kids,’ or, you know, they sensationalize the crime for entertainment purposes and the tragedy of people's lives,” Theus said. “So we need documentaries made by the people who are most affected by the issue. Whether it’s women's rights, LGBTQ rights, I respect projects that are made by people who are underserved or marginalized, you know, rather than somebody who's not from that community coming in and telling their story. Let us tell our own stories. We can tell our own stories.”

Challenges directing and telling stories from prison

Obviously, Theus, who is serving a life sentence, couldn’t be on the set when they were filming. Nor was he able to watch footage. “So directing looked different,” Ben-Shahar said. “We used transcription so that we could convey what was filmed and afterwards he could make director's decisions.” But when emailing them to him, they had to factor in there was no email on weekends. Phone calls could be unpredictable. While Theus could make 20-minute calls at certain times on certain days, events such as frequent lockdowns could result in delayed calls or no calls. Plus, calls were also costly. A GoFundMe campaign raised $400 to cover some phone costs.

The team also did a lot of preparation before filming to understand Theus’ vision. It was imperative that his perspective be carried out, so they had a lot of conversations with him and did a lot of editing. Theus also wrote a detailed treatment for the project that went beyond the original pitch. He shaped the content of the film by writing his ideas and scripts for many of the interviews along with interview questions.

For Brewton, some of what Theus wanted felt intuitive. “Me and Ced did eight years together,” he said. “So I know Ced, I know what he's going through. So when he was explaining to me what he wanted done, I knew what he was talking about and I knew how to do it exactly how he wanted it.”

“He could paint a picture in his mind how he wanted it to look," Brewton continued, "and he was so detailed in how he wanted it that I could make that happen. So sites that I set up, any gatherings that I helped set up, I knew what he wanted.”

A $25,000 Greenlight Grant from the Iowa Arts Council was a game-changer for the project, Ben-Shahar said. "We were able to get an editor and director of photography that were really able to bring it up the level of the film.” The film was released at the end of 2021.

Key things viewers should learn

“I want people to know that we're not just statistics and to kind of look at our stories,” Theus said. “We don't just commit, you know, horrible crimes, which each one of us did, because we're bad people. When you look at the childhood circumstances…” He mentioned McKenzie, who in the film tells of beatings by his father, some of which kept him out of school for a month, and the first and last time his abused mom fought back. “We deal with all types of traumas that affect us later in life, especially during our teenage years, and if untreated, sometimes we make bad decisions when we're 18 or 19. But that doesn't define us, especially when we mature and we're able to really process what happened and understand what happened.”

That maturation and understanding leads to another lesson that is shown in the film. “We age out of crime and can be a solution to crime. You don't have to be afraid that if we get out or if we're out in your community, that we're going to continue down that same path. You know, we can actually be an asset.” McKenzie and Brewton are just two examples.

“We're conditioned to look at the police as the ones who keep us safe in our communities," Theus continued. "But I believe that the activists and the people who are out here trying to keep people from committing crimes in the first place, they do meaningful public safety work and the public doesn't recognize that. So I want to bring that awareness to the public. And, you know, just let them know that that justice isn't always what you think it is.”

More on aging out of crime:Too Old to Commit Crime?

The racial disparity that Theus literally dreamt about was a huge inspiration.

“We're less than 4% of the population," he said. "So chances are the average Iowan don't know us, as a people, talking about African Americans in general. They don't live next door. They don't go to school with us. They don't go to church with us. We don't work with them. So it's easy for them to dismiss our humanity or dismiss, you know, our stories of what's going on and say, ‘Hey, these people they’re ending up in prison at disproportionate rates because they're committing crime at disproportionate rates so there's something that's wrong with them.' And that's not the case at all.”

All want viewers to take action

"JustUs" not only tells the stories and illustrates the problems, but it shows how ex-prisoners are taking action to solve the problems. It should inspire viewers — you can watch for free on Tubi and Roku — to do so, too.

Theus suggested: “We can hold our politicians accountable. We can hold people that are at the correctional level accountable for how our tax dollars are spent. It costs $59,000 a year to incarcerate me here at ISP. Okay, what are you getting for your money? And understand that the powers that be, the politicians, we have to ask questions. You know, what type of system do we have here in Iowa? What do we want to accomplish? We keep saying things about the racial disparity, you know, year after year, in the paper, but what are you doing to bring that down? What are we doing to make people better? What are we doing to set prisoners up for success once they reenter society?"

"I want people to ask questions, to hold their politicians or people who are in power accountable.”

One way of holding them accountable is picking up the phone and calling your legislator, regardless of party, and ask them those questions. “And say, hey, what are you doing about this? I saw this film. You know, what are you doing to address this?”

Brewton had the following suggestions:

• “We have to take time in the community to give time to the youth.” Brewton is a football coach for the Des Moines Venom and for his 3-year-old son's sports team. “Everybody don't play sports. Some people might draw. Some might cook. But everybody needs to get something to keep the kids busy and to give them a future that they can reach and I promise you, they'll adjust. Won't be all this fighting, shooting and, you know, stabbing, going on. They'll be focused. They'll wanna do something and they won't want to lose it.”

• “Speak up for these guys doing unconstitutional sentences. As Americans, when it comes to our rights in any area, if any of our rights are broken it, needs to be stood on and corrected. You gotta stand on both sides. They should be tough on both sides. If you're gonna be tough on crime over here, be tough on making sure that during that justice process, during that criminal process, that a person is having their rights, that they got all their rights and everything is done right.”

• In speaking up, whether for this issue, advocating for the film, or anything else, Brewton added, “Come together and speak on it. Be a part of it. Share videos. Share posts. Let it be known that you support it, because anything that the public fights for, they get. We might not get it right away, but we do get it.” Like, for example, when people focused on ex-felons getting their voting rights back, they got them back.

• Share "JustUs." “Talk about it. Put it on TikTok. Post it on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, IG, putting it out there, you know, telling people to watch it and support it. Make it trend.”

Ben-Shahar added:

• Help out the organizations featured in the film and listed at justusdocumentary.com.

• Help get "JustUs" exposure at film festivals.

• Get libraries and other venues to host screenings and request Theus to call in for Q&A. Email justusdocumentary@gmail.com if interested.

To watch "JustUs" for free:

• Tubi: https://tubitv.com/movies/644714/justus

• Roku: https://therokuchannel.roku.com/details/a6b59a0a201c5a04b21c64d633e72e70/justus

Rachelle Chase is an opinion columnist at the Des Moines Register. Follow Rachelle at facebook.com/rachelle.chase.author or on Twitter @Rachelle_Chase.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Cedric Theus narrates ‘JustUs’ documentary from prison