Knowing the context: Our work on doc-short "Arrested at Delaney Hall"

The world today, especially America, is scary. It feels like every day, some new insane story comes to light that we have to deal with, when usually we don’t know how. 

A few months back, there was a news piece that caught my attention, mostly because it really was local news. 

Newark’s Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested by ICE agents. 

And then he was released a few hours later.

That was the story. In the world of headlines, that’s really all I saw. I had no idea if Mayor Baraka was peacefully protesting, violently storming a building, or just minding his own business. There was no context. 

A few days after I saw the headline, I got an email from Louis (Lou) Cacchione, an old coworker of mine. 

Lou and I jumped on a call and he revealed to me that he was there for this story. He had the context. 

Delaney Hall is a privately-owned, detention facility in Newark operated by The GEO Group, Inc. Over the winter, ICE awarded them a $1 billion contract for exclusive use of their facility for immigrant detention. 

Mayor Baraka says that The GEO Group does not have the required permits to open the facility. 

For a few days before his eventual arrest, Mayor Baraka would show up with the Newark Fire Department to serve The GEO Group with a violation notice. They would wait outside the gates, waiting to speak with someone in the proper channel. 

So much of the footage Lou recorded was just images of Mayor Baraka and his team standing around quietly waiting. 

After a few days he and members of Congress were allowed in, before quickly being asked to leave. 

Then he was arrested. And the story hit the news cycle.

That’s it. That’s the story. It honestly doesn’t seem like much, but to me, that’s the point. There was no unruly protest. There was no violent action. Yet, the federal agents escalated this “nothing” to become national news, and by proxy, a doc-short titled Arrested at Delaney Hall. 

Our nimble team included: 

Nick Sweetser - Editor & Producer

Matthew Guarnaccia - Assistant Editor 

Rob Acocella - Sound Editor & Re-Recording Mixer

Javed S. Ali - Colorist

James Barker - Post-Production Supervisor & Producer

In just three weeks, we had the 14-minute film completed and submitted to DocNYC. We knew we couldn’t sit on this footage. It had to get out and be seen. 

We hope to share publicly soon on the festival circuit.

I’m someone who constantly wants to know “why.” I hate not understanding something.

Working on this film gave us a greater understanding of “why” in this story, and hopefully it will do the same for others. 

Artists supporting artists, telling important stories, working quickly and efficiently together. 

This is why I started this collective.