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- / Movies & TV Shows
- 2022 · Documentary · 26m
World Premiere. John Leguizamo Live at Rikers. Shorts. Short | United States | 26 MINUTES | English, Spanish. New York, Documentary. Actor John Leguizamo performs his play Ghetto Klown at Rikers Island prison, inspiring justice-involved young men to reflect openly about their own lives and the serious challenges of incarceration.
- Overview
- Leguizamo: 'Few individuals more invisible'
Accompanied by a hulking guard, actor John Leguizamo enters a large, empty auditorium and appears taken aback. “Oh, wow, this is like Radio City Music Hall,” he says. He surveys the venue. “If I can do this, I can do anything.”
This is no typical performance for the acclaimed star of theater, television and film. It's one of the opening scenes from the short documentary “John Leguizamo Live at Rikers,” now on streaming and on demand for the first time after a weeklong Academy Award-qualifying theatrical run.
The award-winning short documentary made its debut Friday, part of the Black Experience collection on Xfinity Channel on Xfinity X1, Flex, Xfinity Stream and Xumo apps. (Xfinity and NBC News are part of Comcast and Comcast NBCUniversal).
In it, Leguizamo performs his one-man Broadway show for an audience of more than 400 inmates, and then leads discussions with young men enrolled in an anti-recidivism initiative.
Rikers Island, a New York City correctional facility, may seem like an unlikely setting for Leguizamo to perform his show, “Ghetto Klown.” Yet many of the show’s themes — from family instability to police profiling to life on the streets — clearly resonate with his audience. Onstage, Leguizamo recalls that he was “mad rebellious” as a young man, and that he had run-ins with the police. “I got arrested,” he says in the film. “I guess you could say it was my first bad review.”
Rikers Island has an inmate population that is predominantly Black and Latino. In recent years, the complex has become infamous for abuse, corruption and mismanagement, with calls from some politicians to shut it down or place it under federal control.
These young men are participants in the Harlem-based Getting Out and Staying Out (GOSO) program, which helps inmates further their education, secure employment and achieve emotional well-being. According to the film, a majority of men involved in the criminal justice system are reincarcerated within three years of their release. But 86% of participants in the GOSO program do not return to the prison system.
“When I first started acting, I didn’t just want to be an entertainer, I wanted to be an artist,” Leguizamo said in a statement prepared before the current SAG/AFTRA and Writers Guild strikes. “After my performance at Rikers, I realized that there are few individuals more invisible than those who have been through America’s criminal justice system. After performing and talking with these young men, it’s clear how much work still needs to be done to help lift them up.”
“John Leguizamo Live at Rikers” had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York last year. It has since been screened at 30 film festivals throughout the world, including Cannes, and received five awards for best short documentary.
For director and producer Elena Engel of Azimuth Films, “John Leguizamo Live at Rikers” was a deeply personal experience, inspired by an immediate family member who was sentenced to prison for a nonviolent offense. “It basically changed the trajectory of his life and forced me to recognize the lack of human consideration and dignity in the American justice system,” she said.
Engel is an award-winning filmmaker who has worked with Disney, Warner Bros. and Amblin Entertainment. She hopes that her film will offer a more hopeful, empathetic perspective on behalf of all young people involved in the criminal justice system. “John and I shared a common desire to support the efforts of GOSO participants who basically face a world in which they’re demonized, even after fulfilling their debt to society.”
Amid the confines of Rikers, Engel is proud that she was able to be part of what Leguizamo refers to in the film as “a soul exchange.”
John Leguizamo Live at Rikers: Directed by Elena Francesca Engel, Abigail Fuller. With Sean Jones, John Leguizamo, Tyriek. It follows John Leguizamo as he performs his play Ghetto Klown at Rikers Island prison.
- Elena Francesca Engel, Abigail Fuller
- 2022-06
- Documentary, Short
- Sean Jones, John Leguizamo, Tyriek
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Dec 15, 2023 · John Leguizamo Live at Rikers, from Azimuth Films, is available to stream now on Black Experience on Xfinity and Xumo.
Sep 18, 2023 · Xfinity is the exclusive platform premiere of the documentary film John Leguizamo Live at Rikers from award-winning actor, writer, producer, filmmaker, and activist John Leguizamo,...
John Leguizamo Live At Rikers. Documentary Short. WORLD PREMIERE at the. Tribeca Film Festival June 2022. Get Tickets. the film. John Leguizamo visits Rikers Island Correctional Facility to perform his one-man Broadway show “Ghetto Klown” for an audience of over 400 inmates.
Dec 13, 2023 · Mar 22, 2022. ABC News’ Linsey Davis spoke to actor and comedian John Leguizamo about his documentary "John Leguizamo Live at Rikers," in which he performs "Ghetto Klown" at Rikers Island ...
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