Help A Place to Stand get to the audiences it was created for: to educate, inspire and change lives.

Our mission is simple: to impact as many lives with our film as possible. 

We always knew that the early life of Jimmy Santiago Baca -- how his unlikely discovery of poetry while incarcerated in one of the worst US prisons transformed him from an illiterate, violent convict to a beloved, world-renowned writer -- was inspirational. Our feature-length documentary "A Place to Stand" has been called "a compelling look at the power of language" (Pasatiempo). Academy Award-winning Director Taylor Hackford ("Ray", "The Devil's Advocate") said it "presents Jimmy's story in the best way: by letting this great poet tell his own tale - and no one can tell a tale like Jimmy Santiago Baca." 

Our film has been seen by thousands in film festival screenings around the U.S., but our goal has always been more: to bring the film to schools, prisons, juvenile detention facilities and communities where this story can make the biggest impact. Jimmy's memoir remains very popular in prisons and in Los Angeles, it's the most stolen book from the Street Poets library. This is only part of what proves the hunger and need for this story. 

With your support, we will make the film and companion curriculum available for low-income communities and educational facilities nationwide. We know this film, Jimmy's story, can change lives. That's why we're fundraising. 

From the beginning, we wanted to do more than just produce and distribute our film -- we wanted to bring it to viewers on whom it could have a deep impact. So we designed curriculum and a student workbook. The idea is that the film can better reach its crucial audience -- teenagers, at-risk youth, and incarcerated individuals -- with a focused conversation surrounding its themes.

"Finding A Place to Stand", the film's curriculum, includes group discussions, activities, poetry prompts, and free-writes, and is centered on the concepts of individual power and strength. It has been piloted in nearly a dozen schools and has received much positive feedback from the teachers -- and the students! -- who have used it thus far.

You can view excerpts of the curriculum here: Finding A Place to Stand Curriculum Sample

In this world of increasing negativity, we need stories like Jimmy's, more than ever, to serve as a counterbalance, to communicate that there is always hope and always possibility for positive change. Jimmy is a powerful role model for populations without many role models: incarcerated individuals, adolescents on the edge, and others impoverished and neglected by society. 

We know that we have something special on our hands, but without your support, the film won’t go very far. We don’t have a big distributor or a studio behind us. We don’t have big money. All we have is sweat and determination and passion. That’s why we’re crowdfunding - we need support to fund our grassroots distribution campaign. 

This project has been a people-powered effort from the very beginning and we want to continue that tradition until we achieve our goals. Without over a thousand people contributing from $1 to $20,000, we would have never completed the film. Because of that, we aren't beholden to investors or other interests - we can devote all of our resources into the communities we're aiming to serve. 

Our Story

Director Daniel Glick with Producer Gabriel Baca and Director of Photography Michael Gordon shooting "A Place to Stand".
In 2010, a 26-year-old Daniel Glick visited a friend's friend at Auburn Penitentiary. He was deeply struck by the intensity of the place and started cross-examining Tommy, who had been in prison for 15 years at that point, about life behind bars. The friend recommended Jimmy Santiago Baca’s memoir A Place to Stand. Daniel bought it, read it, and instantly knew he had to make a film about Jimmy’s experience.

Daniel moved to New Mexico in 2011, teamed up with Gabriel Baca (Jimmy's son) to form Catamount Films, and spent the next several years creating the film version of "A Place to Stand". Their intention was not only to shed light on the difficult experience of incarceration but -- most importantly -- to spread the message that it is possible to overcome even the most difficult circumstances.

Make your donation here:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/a-place-to-stand-s-educational-campaign#/