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Read below for our newest PPSL Spotlight with 2025 Fellow Emilia Tamayo! Her film Just Like Us will be screening this Thursday, 05/14 at 7pm. Click the link in our bio to learn more!

Emilia Tamayo, 2025 PPSL Fellow, Film: Just Like Us

What was your PPSL film about?

"My PPSL film, “Just Like Us”, was in collaboration with the Northwestern Prison Education Program (@nuprisoneducation). Most of the first quarter of PPSL was volunteering at the prison and a lot of journaling and bonding activities to build trust. It wasn't really until the end of the first quarter that we actually sat down and had cameras to start filming. The idea was to have a film about connections with family and topics that require more trust, to ask someone, “Hey, can I talk to your mom about this?” So, it was about incarcerated folks' connections with family and despite the barrier, how do we build that bond and maintain connection?"

And what inspired you to choose that topic? How do you see it connecting to mental health?

"In incarcerated spaces, mental health is not always thought of in the same way that folks are required to have their physical health taken care of, which has its own challenges and is hardly met. So it's much harder to get mental health taken care of in a space like that.

Something that was revealed throughout the process is also the mental health aspect for the families. A lot of the students in the prison talk about it as like almost a “secondary incarceration” where you're put away from your loved one who's in prison. Your ability to communicate with them is also restrict. The things you can say to them, how you can talk to them. So much is almost dystopian in that communication and just how everything is monitored. It's not an ideal mental health situation for the families too. Which then brings into question, why are we allowing this to happen? Because the families didn’t do anything wrong necessarily."

Continued in comments.

Read below for our newest PPSL Spotlight with 2025 Fellow Emilia Tamayo! Her film Just Like Us will be screening this Thursday, 05/14 at 7pm. Click the link in our bio to learn more!

Emilia Tamayo, 2025 PPSL Fellow, Film: Just Like Us

What was your PPSL film about?

"My PPSL film, “Just Like Us”, was in collaboration with the Northwestern Prison Education Program (@nuprisoneducation). Most of the first quarter of PPSL was volunteering at the prison and a lot of journaling and bonding activities to build trust. It wasn't really until the end of the first quarter that we actually sat down and had cameras to start filming. The idea was to have a film about connections with family and topics that require more trust, to ask someone, “Hey, can I talk to your mom about this?” So, it was about incarcerated folks' connections with family and despite the barrier, how do we build that bond and maintain connection?"

And what inspired you to choose that topic? How do you see it connecting to mental health?

"In incarcerated spaces, mental health is not always thought of in the same way that folks are required to have their physical health taken care of, which has its own challenges and is hardly met. So it's much harder to get mental health taken care of in a space like that.

Something that was revealed throughout the process is also the mental health aspect for the families. A lot of the students in the prison talk about it as like almost a “secondary incarceration” where you're put away from your loved one who's in prison. Your ability to communicate with them is also restrict. The things you can say to them, how you can talk to them. So much is almost dystopian in that communication and just how everything is monitored. It's not an ideal mental health situation for the families too. Which then brings into question, why are we allowing this to happen? Because the families didn’t do anything wrong necessarily."

Continued in comments.

Read below for our newest PPSL Spotlight with 2025 Fellow Emilia Tamayo! Her film Just Like Us will be screening this Thursday, 05/14 at 7pm. Click the link in our bio to learn more!

Emilia Tamayo, 2025 PPSL Fellow, Film: Just Like Us

What was your PPSL film about?

"My PPSL film, “Just Like Us”, was in collaboration with the Northwestern Prison Education Program (@nuprisoneducation). Most of the first quarter of PPSL was volunteering at the prison and a lot of journaling and bonding activities to build trust. It wasn't really until the end of the first quarter that we actually sat down and had cameras to start filming. The idea was to have a film about connections with family and topics that require more trust, to ask someone, “Hey, can I talk to your mom about this?” So, it was about incarcerated folks' connections with family and despite the barrier, how do we build that bond and maintain connection?"

And what inspired you to choose that topic? How do you see it connecting to mental health?

"In incarcerated spaces, mental health is not always thought of in the same way that folks are required to have their physical health taken care of, which has its own challenges and is hardly met. So it's much harder to get mental health taken care of in a space like that.

Something that was revealed throughout the process is also the mental health aspect for the families. A lot of the students in the prison talk about it as like almost a “secondary incarceration” where you're put away from your loved one who's in prison. Your ability to communicate with them is also restrict. The things you can say to them, how you can talk to them. So much is almost dystopian in that communication and just how everything is monitored. It's not an ideal mental health situation for the families too. Which then brings into question, why are we allowing this to happen? Because the families didn’t do anything wrong necessarily."

Continued in comments.

Read below for our newest PPSL Spotlight with 2025 Fellow Emilia Tamayo! Her film Just Like Us will be screening this Thursday, 05/14 at 7pm. Click the link in our bio to learn more!

Emilia Tamayo, 2025 PPSL Fellow, Film: Just Like Us

What was your PPSL film about?

"My PPSL film, “Just Like Us”, was in collaboration with the Northwestern Prison Education Program (@nuprisoneducation). Most of the first quarter of PPSL was volunteering at the prison and a lot of journaling and bonding activities to build trust. It wasn't really until the end of the first quarter that we actually sat down and had cameras to start filming. The idea was to have a film about connections with family and topics that require more trust, to ask someone, “Hey, can I talk to your mom about this?” So, it was about incarcerated folks' connections with family and despite the barrier, how do we build that bond and maintain connection?"

And what inspired you to choose that topic? How do you see it connecting to mental health?

"In incarcerated spaces, mental health is not always thought of in the same way that folks are required to have their physical health taken care of, which has its own challenges and is hardly met. So it's much harder to get mental health taken care of in a space like that.

Something that was revealed throughout the process is also the mental health aspect for the families. A lot of the students in the prison talk about it as like almost a “secondary incarceration” where you're put away from your loved one who's in prison. Your ability to communicate with them is also restrict. The things you can say to them, how you can talk to them. So much is almost dystopian in that communication and just how everything is monitored. It's not an ideal mental health situation for the families too. Which then brings into question, why are we allowing this to happen? Because the families didn’t do anything wrong necessarily."

Continued in comments.

Next Thursday, join us and @nuprisoneducation in celebrating 2025 PPSL Fellow Emilia Tamayo’s feature documentary Just Like Us!

Date: Thursday, May 14th
Reception: 6pm
Film + Discussion: 7pm
Location: Annie May Swift Hall – Auditorium
1920 Campus Drive, Evanston IL 60208

Hand-drawn birthday cards, photographs and carefully crafted letters are just a few of the ways that students incarcerated in Chicago–the wrongful conviction capital of the country–find to overcome the barriers separating them from their loved ones in this documentary created for and by them.

The screening will be followed by a discussion with director Emilia Tamayo, editor Janeth Covarrubias Pérez, Northwestern Prison Education Program (NPEP) Director Jennifer Lackey, and NPEP graduate Broderick Hollins. Moderated by PPSL Director Ines Sommer.

Thank you to everyone who attended our screening of FANON last week!

We had a wonderful discussion afterwards with Ramya Iyer, Dean of the @chicagopsychoanalyticinstitute alongside Northwestern’s very own Assistant Professor Michael Turcios.

Thank you to everyone who attended our screening of FANON last week!

We had a wonderful discussion afterwards with Ramya Iyer, Dean of the @chicagopsychoanalyticinstitute alongside Northwestern’s very own Assistant Professor Michael Turcios.

Thank you to everyone who attended our screening of FANON last week!

We had a wonderful discussion afterwards with Ramya Iyer, Dean of the @chicagopsychoanalyticinstitute alongside Northwestern’s very own Assistant Professor Michael Turcios.

Next Thursday, April 30 - join PPSL for a special screening of FANON!

Director Jean-Claude Barny's new biopic FANON takes us to 1950s Algeria under French colonial rule, where psychiatrist, philosopher and revolutionary Frantz Fanon spent formative years as chief medical officer of a psychiatric hospital. Confronting entrenched racism and resistance to his innovative treatments, the film follows Fanon as he begins to align himself with the Algerian independence movement and the National Liberation Front (FLN).

Co-presented with @chicagopsychoanalyticinstitute , the screening will be followed by a conversation with psychoanalyst and Dean of the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute, Ramya B. Iyer, LCSW and Northwestern University’s Michael Anthony Turcios, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in Screen Cultures in the Department of Radio/Television/Film.

Currently not in distribution in the U.S., this screening is a unique opportunity.

Thursday, April 30 - 7pm, Screening & Discussion
Annie May Swift Hall - 1920 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL

Upcoming film screening! 🚨

Director Jean-Claude Barny’s new biopic FANON takes us to 1950s Algeria under French colonial rule, where psychiatrist, philosopher and revolutionary Frantz Fanon spent formative years as chief medical officer of a psychiatric hospital. Confronting entrenched racism and resistance to his innovative treatments, the film follows Fanon as he begins to align himself with the Algerian independence movement and the National Liberation Front (FLN).

Currently not in distribution in the U.S., this screening is a unique opportunity.

Thursday, April 30 - 7pm, Screening & Discussion
Annie May Swift Hall, 1920 Campus Drive, Evanston IL

Click link in bio to learn more!

Thank you to everyone who joined us last week for our short film screening “Between the Real and Performed”!

Afterwards, we enjoyed a wonderful discussion with filmmakers Lori Felker and Danièle Wilouth about their creative process and approach.

Thank you to everyone who joined us last week for our short film screening “Between the Real and Performed”!

Afterwards, we enjoyed a wonderful discussion with filmmakers Lori Felker and Danièle Wilouth about their creative process and approach.

Thank you to everyone who joined us last week for our short film screening “Between the Real and Performed”!

Afterwards, we enjoyed a wonderful discussion with filmmakers Lori Felker and Danièle Wilouth about their creative process and approach.

Thank you to everyone who joined us last week for our short film screening “Between the Real and Performed”!

Afterwards, we enjoyed a wonderful discussion with filmmakers Lori Felker and Danièle Wilouth about their creative process and approach.

Are you curious about hybrid cinema, personal filmmaking, or screen dance?

Then join PPSL next Thursday for “Between the Real and the Performed” a exciting screening of genre-crossing short films by Lori Felker & Danièle Wilmouth!

Thursday, March 5th, 7pm
Annie May Swift Auditorium

The films include Lori Felker’s Patient, a docu-fiction take on the use of “simulated patients” in medical training as well as the experimental Spontaneous, a courageous personal account of experiencing a miscarriage while attending the Slamdance Film Festival. A collaboration between choreographer Peter Carpenter and filmmaker Danièle Wilmouth, What Went Down delivers an irreverent take on pain and virtuosity, while Just to Say I’m Fine (work-in-progress) translates vulnerable, highly physical diaristic accounts into movement and choreography for the camera.

Q+A with the filmmakers after the screening.

Click the link in bio to learn more!

NEXT THURSDAY: Join our upcoming screening!

Short Films by Paloma Martinez and Elivia Shaw

As the effects of current U.S. immigration policies loom large, filmmakers Paloma Martinez and Elivia Shaw use intimate storytelling to humanize broader social questions. This program showcases the new short documentary Ricky Leaves by Paloma Martinez, Assistant Professor in the Department of Radio/Television/Film, and a special sneak preview of Breathing Room by award-winning Bay Area filmmaker Elivia Shaw, who also edited Martinez’ Ricky Leaves.

Thursday, February 19
6:30 PM Reception with light refreshments
7:00 PM Screening
Followed by a discussion with the filmmakers

Annie May Swift Hall – Auditorium
1920 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208

Click the link in our bio to learn more!

Join PPSL for our first event of the winter quarter!

Short Films by Paloma Martinez and Elivia Shaw

As the effects of current U.S. immigration policies loom large, filmmakers Paloma Martinez and Elivia Shaw use intimate storytelling to humanize broader social questions. This program showcases the new short documentary Ricky Leaves by Paloma Martinez, Assistant Professor in the Department of Radio/Television/Film, and a special sneak preview of Breathing Room by award-winning Bay Area filmmaker Elivia Shaw, who also edited Martinez’ Ricky Leaves.

Thursday, February 19
6:30 PM Reception with light refreshments
7:00 PM Screening
Followed by a discussion with the filmmakers

Annie May Swift Hall – Auditorium
1920 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208

Click the link in our bio to learn more!

Happy 2026! 🎊

A new year means new beginnings, and at PPSL we are celebrating the first meeting of our 2026 Fellows! Stay tuned for upcoming news and events over the winter and spring quarters.

Here with another installment in our “Where They Are Now” series! Read below for our catch up with a PPSL alum. 🎉

PJ Fahrenkrug, 2025 PPSL Fellow, @sesameworkshop Writers’ Room Fellowship

Where are you working? What is the day-to-day?

“I am currently participating in the Sesame Workshop Writers’ Room fellowship, which has been an absolute hoot. I’ve had the opportunity to meet with incredibly talented showrunners, executives, agents, and other writers in the children’s media space to learn how to create engaging and diverse television for younger audiences. This year, 5 fellows were selected to write an original animated children’s pilot, and my story centers on a 10-year-old aspiring roller coaster engineer and her adventures at the county fair. I wanted to use goofball comedy and a squash-and-stretch style to appeal to a 6-11 age range while exploring themes of inclusivity and highlighting girls/gender non-conforming youth in STEAM.”

How does mental health and/or your experience with PPSL play a role in this new position?

“Creating my short “I Look Weird” for PPSL really helped me discover my passion for kids media writing. In the fellowship, there’s a lot of emphasis on promoting social-emotional learning and mindfulness in the stories we tell for today’s young audiences. I hope to keep exploring mental health topics by showing kids how to be authentic and empathetic as I continue building my career in children’s media.”

What are your plans for the future?

“We recently finished up instruction and are now polishing our samples for the New York City Writers’ Room event at the beginning of the year, which I’m unbelievably excited for. In January I’ll be able to tell you how to get, how to get to Sesame Street.”

Learn more about the Sesame Workshop Writers’ Room Fellowship here: https://sesameworkshop.org/our.../fellowships/writers-room/

We are thrilled to announce the Pritzker Pucker Studio Lab 2026 Fellows!

Over the 2026 winter and spring quarters, each of the 12 fellows will develop projects that creatively examine mental illness/health, culminating in a final showcase. These projects may take any form – from fiction and documentary films to video installation. We can’t wait to see what they create.

Click the “Fellows” link in our bio to learn more about these amazing students!