Up the ridge / a Holler to the Hood production ; a film by Nick Szuberla and Amelia Kirby ; produced and directed by Nick Szuberla and Amelia Kirby ; produced and distributed by Appalshop.

Format:

Video

Contributor:

Szuberla, Nick, director, producer.

Kirby, Amelia, director, producer.

Appalshop, Inc., publisher.

Series:

Academic Video Online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Imprisonment--United States.

Imprisonment.

Prisons--Virginia.

Prisons.

Human rights--Virginia.

Human rights.

Virginia--Economic conditions.

Virginia.

Appalachian Region--Economic conditions.

Appalachian Region.

Genre:

Documentary films.

Feature films.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (54 minutes)

Place of Publication:

Whitesburg, KY : Appalshop Inc., 2006.

Language Note:

In English.

System Details:

video file

Summary:

Appalshop's radio station WMMT 88.7 FM has operated the only hip-hop radio program in Whitesburg, Kentucky since the 1990s. In 1999, volunteer DJs Nick Szuberla and Amelia Kirby received hundreds of letters from inmates transferred into nearby Wallens Ridge, the region's newest prison built to prop up the shrinking coal economy. The letters described human rights violations and racial tension between staff and inmates. The two began filming that year and, though the lens of Wallens Ridge State Prison, captured an in-depth look at the United States prison industry and the social impact of moving hundreds of thousands of people of color from cities to distant rural outposts. Up the Ridge explores competing political agendas that align government policy with human rights violations, and political expediencies that bring communities into racial and cultural conflict with tragic consequences. The film will be of interest to anyone interested in criminal justice reform, as well as to listeners of WMMT's ongoing Monday night show "Calls from Home."

Notes:

Title from title screen (viewed September 22, 2025).

OCLC:

1544908518