WTTW believes in the power of film to engage communities in dialogue around the most important social and cultural issues of our time. Our Community Screenings bring audiences together to experience the best of PBS documentaries, to spotlight societal and culturally relevant topics that can promote healthy discussions long after the film airs.

Join WTTW, New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie, renowned education expert and teaching innovator Andrew Kaufman, and Chris Farina of Rosalia Films for a screening of Seats at the Table, a documentary depicting Kaufman’s decade-old University of Virginia course, Books Behind Bars. Take a look inside a unique classroom where university students meet with residents at a maximum-security juvenile correctional center to explore questions of meaning, value, and social justice through conversations about Russian literature classics. Seats at the Table opens a dialogue about transformative educational experiences and incarceration.

Immediately following the screening, Jamelle Bouie will moderate a panel discussion featuring Andrew Kaufman, former UVA student Kelsey Bowman, and former correctional center resident Bradley Brewer.  They will discuss the power of innovative education to affect personal and social change as we search for new ways to engage students and create a more equitable world. The conversation will also mark the first time the former university and correctional center students have seen each other since filming.

This is a free event; please RSVP.