Lorna Johnson is a filmmaker whose works have screened nationally at such festivals as 
 Women in the Director's Chair, Atlanta Film and Video Festival, New Orleans Film and Video 
 Festival.  Her work has also been screened on the program Independent Focus through WNET
 PBS in New York and  has been honored at the Mill Valley Film Festival in California and the
 National Black Programming Consortium. She has previously written for the Independent Film and
 Video Monthly, a journal highlighting independently produced media as well as served as
 Assistant Editor for Viewing Race a publication of National Video Resources funded by the
 Rockefellar Foundation.  Ms. Johnson received her undergraduate degree from Northwestern
 University’s School of Speech and her Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Wisconsin at
 Milwaukee.

 Q: What inspired you to capture "Woman of the Word" on film?

 A:  Film is a very personal medium for me.  I journal as well and so I knew that memoir writing 
 was a powerful tool.  I was doubly impressed when I heard that Michele was working with 
 women inmates to document their stories lives in writing.  It was actually meeting the women 
 that convinced me that I had to produce the film.  After meeting them I was blown away by how
 articulate and intelligent they were.  So in addition to wanting to dispel myths about women in
 prison (fueled by media misrepresentation and sensationalism), I also wanted to ask why were
 such intelligent women behind bars.

 Q: What were the greatest challenges you needed to overcome when working on
 "Freedom Road"?

 A:  Film and video production is a very expensive medium as well as labor intensive.  It was an
 expensive process but ultimately worth it if it gets screened.

 Q: What were the most rewarding parts of the project for you?

 A: The most rewarding part of the process was meeting the women.  They were engaging,
 honest, articulate and alive.  When I say alive, I mean they were really engaged in the process
 of learning and sharing and valued the moments in the classroom with each other and Michele.  I
 felt alive and fortunate every time I left the class.

 Q: What do you want your audience to take away from this film?

 A:  I would hope that audiences begin to think about the goal of the criminal justice system as
 being not just for punishment but rehabilitation.  I think we have gotten away from that as a
 culture and we have become a punitive society. Additionally we have to understand that people
 who end up in prison are products of our culture. That means we need to ask what could we as
 a culture or community do to prevent people from ending up in these institutions. As Elaine
 Easterling, mother of student and inmate Robin, states, “In our society people say you make
 your bed and you lay in it. But I don’t see that we have enough opportunities to make the bed
 and differently.”  What she is saying is that if you give people opportunities, jobs, after-school
 programs, job training programs you may cut down on crime. If you invest in the social structure
 of society you will have less crime.

 Q: What documentary are you working on now?