Prison and Time (2025)
Featured in The New York Times Op-Docs
A Project Mend Production
In “Prison and Time,” I animate excerpts of an essay by writer & activist Marvin Wade, who speaks personally about his 25 years of incarceration—and the positive transformation he achieved in spite of, not because of, an inhumane prison system working against him.
Letterboxd // IMDB // Shortverse
About the Animation
Change unfolds through choices made as we move through time—an idea reflected in the process of animation itself.
Embracing the rough, textured aesthetics of a human artist working by hand with physical materials, I wanted our audience to see images evolve and feel moments unfold while they listened to Marvin’s story about time and transformation.
Rather than make a new drawing for each frame, I often animated through incremental additions to single drawings, tracking a progression that can occur even while rooted in an unchanging context.
One moment at a time, hope and healing persist.
Photo of Marvin Wade by Evan Bode. Marvin reads another of his essays, “Getting Over the Mountains,” at a Project Mend event at Seymour Library in Auburn, New York.
About the Writer
Marvin Wade, the writer and narrator of “Prison and Time,” is a Spiritual Activist and family man, born in 1970 and raised in Brooklyn, NY. While incarcerated for 25 years, Marvin wrote multiple books worth of stories, novels, and personal essays on every bit of paper he could find, combining his gift as a storyteller with the art of writing. As a Prison and Social Advocate, Marvin believes that his purpose in life is to be that light for those in finding their true self and true path in life.
A celebrated writer and speaker, Marvin has read his work at spaces such as the Malin Gallery, Princeton University, The Everson Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art. You can read his writings in publications such as Mend, Voices of Fortune, and recreationwriters.
Read Marvin's full essay, "Time and Prison: Are They Mutually Exclusive?" in volume 3 of Mend(2025).
Press for Prison and Time
NYT Op-Docs: Befriending Time Changed My Life
by Evan Bode and Marvin Wade, The New York Times (May 27, 2026)
A Poetic Short Film Animates the Counterproductive Forces of Incarceration
by Grace Ebert, Colossal (June 8, 2026)
Filmmaker Interview: Evan Bode & Marvin Wade on Prison and Time
by Alex Turner, Wide Open Experimental Film Fest (April 15)
When I Think of Freedom: Project Mend & The Power of Storytelling
by Alexis Kirkpatrick, SU College of Arts & Sciences (July 30)
Festival Screenings + Awards for Prison and Time
Encuentro Para Cinéfagos Festival de CineArte
Venezuela / November 2026
Linoleum Animation Festival
Kyiv, Ukraine / September 2026
Walla Walla Movie Crush
Washington, United States / July 2026
Award Nominee: Best Animation
FOLCS International Short Film Competition
(3rd Place Winner)
New York, U.S. / May 2026
MicroActs Artist Film Screening:
“In a Curious Place”
London, U.K. / December 2025
Syracuse International Film Festival
New York, U.S. / October 2026
Black August Film Festival
California, United States / August 2026
New Jersey International Film Festival
New Jersey, United States / June 2026
Honorable Mention, Best Animation
ATL DOC: Atlanta Doc Film Festival
Georgia, United States / March 2026
“After Prison: When I Think of Freedom,” with Project Mend
Auburn, New York, U.S. / November 2025
Pebbles Underground Film / Video Art Winter Screening
Canada / Online, December 2025
WINNER: Audience Award
Inthrive Film Festival
Virginia, U.S. / October 2026
ANIMAPHIX Contemporary New Languages Film Festival
Sicily, Italy / August 2026
New Favs Film Festival
Brooklyn, New York / June 2026
Pebbles Underground Award Winners Screening on VisualContainer TV
Online, Global / February 2026
Oakland International Film Festival
California, U.S. / September 2026
Cinema Columbus
Ohio, United States / September 2026
Gimli International Film Festival
Manitoba, Canada / July 2026
Justice Film Festival (14th Annual)
New York City, U.S. / February 2026
Wide Open Experimental Film Festival
Oklahoma, United States / April 2026
Collaborations with Project Mend
I am excited to be working with Project Mend on a planned series of collaborative short films, adapting the published writing of prison-impacted authors.
Through handcrafted animation, editing, and sound design, I introduce expressive audiovisual accompaniment to existing texts in conversation with the writers, centering their stories as told in their own words and sharing their voices for a wider audience through the medium of film.
Project Mend is a multimodal, grassroots-level, open-access national archive centered on the creative work of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals and their communities.
Learn more at project-mend.net
More about Mend
Project Mend focuses on writing and publishing as a means by which formerly incarcerated individuals and their families can reimagine themselves, their communities, and their futures. Self-expression through writing holds a potential for the transformation of not only those who create, but for those who may read the published works.
The initiative consists of two parts: Mend Syracuse, a publishing apprenticeship for systems-impacted people and Mend, a journal featuring the works of anyone impacted by mass incarceration. Both components concern the power of writing to bring about change, exploring how individuals learn to write themselves into new identities and new lives.
Project Mend is made possible through collaboration with the Center for Community Alternatives and through an HNY Post-Incarceration Humanities Partnership, which is generously supported by the Mellon Foundation and the CNY Humanities Corridor. Additionally, the project has been supported at Syracuse University by the Engaged Humanities Network, the Humanities Center, the SOURCE, Syracuse University Libraries, and the Department of Writing Studies, Rhetoric, and Composition.
For more information, visit project-mend.net or contact Patrick W. Berry at mendthejournal@gmail.com