Keith McQuirter's "Milwaukee 53206" may have premiered in 2016, but the documentary – chronicling the lives of those who live in the city's 53206 zip code, which has the highest rate of incarceration for African-American males in the country – is unfortunately no less relevant and vital two years later.
Thankfully, if you missed the doc's world premiere run during the 2016 Milwaukee Film Festival, you have another chance next week as "Milwaukee 53206" will premiere on WORLD Channel at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 3, as a part of the channel's award-winning weekly series, "America ReFramed."
McQuirter's documentary explores the nation's issues with race, systemic incarceration and more by following several individuals from the city's 53206 zip code: a wife coping with her husband's incarceration and shifting parole laws, a former drug dealer attempting to make a new start in his life by getting some of his record expunged and a man who created a support group for those also attempting to rejoin society after time in prison.
The film will kick-off a thematically-tied trio of documentary premieres on WORLD Channel's "America ReFramed" – rounded out by Jenny Phillips and Bestor Cram's "Beyond the Wall," followed by Annelise Wunderlich and Richard O'Connell's "The Corridor" – all taking on the issues and complexities of America's prison and criminal justice system.
"America ReFramed" will begin at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 3 with "Milwaukee 53206," before showing "Beyond the Wall" and "The Corridor" at the same time on the following two Tuesdays of the month on WORLD Channel. And if, like me, this is the first time you've heard of the WORLD Channel and have no idea what it is or where to find it (hint: it's channel 36.2), the documentaries will all be available to stream the day after their respective broadcasts on the channel's website as well as on all PBS-branded platforms, including its website and various apps.
As much as it is a gigantic cliché to say that one has always had a passion for film, Matt Mueller has always had a passion for film. Whether it was bringing in the latest movie reviews for his first grade show-and-tell or writing film reviews for the St. Norbert College Times as a high school student, Matt is way too obsessed with movies for his own good.
When he's not writing about the latest blockbuster or talking much too glowingly about "Piranha 3D," Matt can probably be found watching literally any sport (minus cricket) or working at - get this - a local movie theater. Or watching a movie. Yeah, he's probably watching a movie.