Skip to content

Talking Freedom: How State and For-Profit Prisons Impact Central Valley Communities (2022)

Prison Sign from ”Where’s my Coffee Cup?”

Principal Investigator:

  • Yehuda Sharim

Graduate Fellow Team Members:

Samantha Tucker

Oscar Montero-Hernandez

Arjun Chandraseka

Nicolette Lecy

Community Partners:

  • Andrew Winn (Insight Garden Program)
  • Arnold Trevino (Insight Garden Program)
  • Prof. George Lipstiz (UCSB)
  • Rebecca Hester (Virginia Tech)
  • Jason Glenn (University of Kansas)
  • Ana Maria Fabian (activist, ICE out of Merced)

Project Summary:

This project resulted in the filming of Y Escalar, which reflects on the changing facets of everyday life in the rural complexes of Coalinga, Merced, and McFarland, California, as these communities negotiate the construction and conversion of prison facilities in their midst. This film offers a poetic meditation on the experience of, around, and within structures of incarceration, including displacement, homelessness, structural inequality, sacrifice, and the economic promise of "development" in rural communities suffering from divestment and neglect.

Related Project Outcomes:

Film:

  • Where’s my Coffee Cup? Yehuda Sharim. Sharim Studio, 2025.

Presentation:

  • Sharim, Yehuda and Katherine Brokaw. “Humanities Research with Community, Featuring Summer Projects.” 7 Apr. 2025, University of California, Merced.

Website:

Trailer: 

NPR Interview:

Upcoming Screenings of Where’s My Coffee Cup?:

  • Sharim, Yehuda. “Where’s My Coffee Cup?” University of California, Washington Center (UCDC), Nov. 2025, Washington, DC.
  • Sharim, Yehuda. “Where’s My Coffee Cup?” Duquesne University, Nov. 2025, Pittsburgh, PA.
  • Sharim, Yehuda. “Where’s My Coffee Cup?” Legal Aid and The Defender Activist Organizations, Oct. 2025, Richmond, VA.
  • Sharim, Yehuda. “Where’s My Coffee Cup?” Docuwest Documentary Film Festival Official Selection, Oct. 2025, Denver, CO.
  • Sharim, Yehuda. “Where’s My Coffee Cup?” Peachtree Village International Film Festival Official Selection, Oct. 2025, Atlanta, GA.
  • Sharim, Yehuda. “Where’s My Coffee Cup?” Tryon International Film Festival Official Selection, Oct. 2025, Tryon, NC.
  • Sharim, Yehuda. “Where’s My Coffee Cup?” Global New Jersey International Film Festival Official Selection, Sept. 2025, New Jersey, NY.
  • Sharim, Yehuda. “Where’s My Coffee Cup?” Global Peace 360 International Film Festival Official Selection, Sept. 2025, Orlando, FL.