UIC filmmaker’s documentary wins social work award

Edgar Barens, visiting media specialist, Jane Addams College of Social Work’s Center for Social Policy and Research.

University of Illinois at Chicago filmmaker Edgar Barens received the Council on Social Work Education’s 2014 Audience Choice Award.

“I am very honored to receive the CSWE 2014 Audience Choice Award,” says Barens, who is a visiting media specialist in the Jane Addams College of Social Work’s Center for Social Policy and Research.

“I think it is a testament to the compassion a prisoner-run hospice can bring to one of society’s darkest corners as well as to the importance of the issue as our correctional system swells with a growing number of elderly and chronically ill prisoners.

“I am proud to be a representative of the Jane Addams College of Social Work and help fulfill its mission through the documentary films we are producing.”

Barens, who lives in Aurora, Illinois, received the award from the national nonprofit for his Oscar-nominated film, “Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall.” The film documents the care by fellow prisoners for World War II veteran Jack Hall, a terminally ill prisoner in the Iowa State Penitentiary. The trailer for “Prison Terminal” can be viewed online.

“Prison Terminal” was one of 12 films selected for the film festival at the 60th Annual Program Meeting as part of CSWE’s continuing efforts to showcase classroom resources for social work educators.