In Ricky, we follow the struggles of the formally incarcerated and recently released 30 year old man whose name titles the film, as he negotiates the outside world, and everything that comes from having being tried as an adult at age 15, and so coming into freedom and adulthood simultaneously.
Not only is this powerful film about how certain communities bear the brunt of the horribly punitive and selectively harsh realities of the U.S. criminal justice system, but about how easy it is to slip backwards if there is nothing to help you on the outside, and how recidivism and a pipeline of punishment runs through families, communities, and generations.
The director Rashad Frett brought the short film Ricky to Sundance and a host of other festivals two years ago, and it’s very positive reception then made the feature a reality. An extraordinary cast has been brought together, with Stephan James who plays Ricky, brilliantly portraying the vulnerability and longing and confusion of a man in his position, and Andrene Ward- Hammond delivering an unforgettable performance as his equally troubled love interest Cheryl. Sheryl Lee Ralph is fantastically committed and real as Ricky’s parole officer, Joanne.
Along with the co-writer Lin Que Young, Frett has delivered a script that rings true. Frett has said that the story is based on many people he knows, and the cast includes non- actors: formally incarcerated individuals who contributed to the film and were interviewed about their experiences for the moving vignettes that run through the end credits.
Premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2025
The Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic was presented to Rashad Frett for Ricky at Sundance 2025.
Directed by Rashad Frett
Screenwriters Rashad Frett and Lin Que Ayoung
Starring Stephan James, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Titus Welliver, Maliq Johnson, Imani Lewis, Simbi Kali and Andrene Ward- Hammond.
Camera work is often close up and sometimes hazy, not only taking the audience close to Ricky but helping them feel his loose footing in the world. Similarly, the way that people come easily in and out of his life, let him down, have massive impacts and then fade into the background, mirrors how isolated the formally incarcerated can be and how unreliable their networks are. Titus Welliver has a great small but powerful role as the neighbour Leslie Torino who attempts to stay the course.
Although strongly local and centred around the communities of Hartford, Connecticut, the film is a loudspeaker for the devastating legacy of justice systems that are not fit for purpose, and the rickashaying ripples of pain that they creates. It is a problem that many states and countries have to start tackling well beyond the borders of the USA.
On the red carpet before the premiere at Sundance, Irresistible spoke to the producer and composer Simon Taufique and the cast member Andrene Ward- Hammond about the film.
What for you is an island of hope for the formerly incarcerated community?
Simon Taufique: I think it’s changing the way we think about recidivism and social justice and criminal justice. The changes in the language we use is so important: the moving from ex-con to ex-offender to formally incarcerated is a major leap in how we think about people who are going through this process of rehabilitation.
Do you think that the labels people carry is changing?
ST: We now have a lot of statistics. We know how many people have been put into the criminal justice system whose sentences have been exorbitant or unfair, or even when the person has been innocent. This knowledge and films like this means that the label being carried through a person’s life is no longer as much of a sentence. It’s weakening the sentence that they carry with them after their actual sentence is over.
What is changing about the status quo?
ST:Our outlook is changing. Our society is emerging from a criminal justice system that isn’t interested in rehabilitation, is just punitive, to one that can do a lot better. Our ideas of what can be done is changing.
And the film specifically is making change?
ST:One thing that we are doing as part of this film is starting a scholarship called the Ricky Scholarship Fund. This is for people who have come from this experience, and wants to learn about storytelling. We’re going to pay for their coursework, so they can learn how to become a director, a screenwriter, a producer, a composer, whatever they want.
The lesson of Ricky is that education opportunity is one of the paths out of recidivism – we want to provide that for the real Rickys that are out there.
What about the real Rickys that were cast in the film?
ST:In the end credits we have testimonies of some of the non- actors that starred in the film. They talk about their experiences in and after prison, and their hopes. By hearing some of their struggles we’re giving other formally incarcerated people clues as to what they need to do to avoid the pitfalls. Our cast members talked to us very candidly about their experiences both on set and as part of this end credit interview process, so we could share that with audiences. They’ve been on this journey and the question is always, ‘What comes next?’ Well now we have some of those answers.
How do you think this story resonates globally?
ST:Even though it is local to Hartford, Connecticut, I think the journey of someone making a mistake early in life, and being penalised exorbitantly, is something we see across the globe. There are disenfranchised populations in every country in the world, in every culture. To now see them through the eyes of someone who is trying to make amends and give back. That is a universal story.
How exciting is it to bring Ricky to Sundance?
Andrene Ward- Hammond
This is my first Sundance and I’m so grateful that this is the project that brought me here. I love that this story is being told and Ricky is getting the life that it needs and that the community gets to see it.
What do you think the film will mean to the community?
AW-H:Having the formally incarcerated cast on set shows possibilities to them and to everyone. If you grow up with no examples of possibility, and everything is at such a distance, how do you know what you can do? Now the reach is shorter. This story being told is a step forward. The shift is happening. We’re telling this story, and showcasing that there aren’t enough programmes out there, that there aren’t enough opportunities for this group of people once they leave prison.
This film is the hope.
At Sundance, Ricky’s director Rashad Frett took home the Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic, so of course, Irresistible caught up him immediately after he won.
The jury citation at the ceremony was, “For holding the audience’s hand through each of the intimate and compelling moments of a young man navigating the first days out of the byzantine U.S. prison system.”
Rashad Frett is already an award-winning Caribbean American filmmaker. He is a Spike Lee Film Production fellow, a Ryan Murphy HALF Initiative fellow, a Sundance Feature Film Lab fellow, and a Cary Fukunaga Production fellow. In 2023 he was named one of Filmmaker magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film.”
Frett told Irresistible when we asked him about the win, “I’m absolutely flawed right now and totally honoured. I’m thankful to to the Sundance Institute for believing in the project and nurturing the script.”
“From the short premiering two years ago, to being here with the feature now is amazing. It doesn’t end here though. We’re taking this film and using it to talk to the community. It’s a place to start more needed conversations.”
“I know those people personally. This is why I wanted to do the film, to get their story out. I just wanted authenticity: I didn’t sugar coat anything. I wanted audience members who didn’t know about this community to give them a glimpse, and to open up this conversation.”
When we asked him if he’s bringing the film and the whole team to Australia he said, “I’m totally down. You’ve convinced me.”
