Colman Domingo and Sing Sing Cast Premiere A24 Film in NYC

Colman Domingo at the NY Premiere of Sing Sing

Kristina Bumphrey

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Oscar nominee Colman Domingo, Academy Award nominee Paul Raci, and the rest of the Sing Sing cast gathered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music yesterday for the film’s New York premiere. Based on a true story, Sing Sing follows Domingo’s character, John “Divine G” Whitfield, as he is imprisoned for a crime he did not commit. As he grapples with his sentence, Divine G finds community in a theater group of his fellow incarcerees.

The cast is composed of several formerly incarcerated actors, including Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin, who plays himself in the film. The movie highlights the real-life friendship between Maclin and Divine G, who both participated in the Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) program at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York.

John 'Divine G' Whitfield, played by Domingo in the film, was in NYC for the film's premiere. Photo by Kristina Bumphrey. — John ‘Divine G’ Whitfield, played by Domingo in the film, attended the film’s NYC premiere. Photo by Kristina Bumphrey.

The film originally premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2023 and at SXSW earlier this year. Director Greg Kwedar began working on the film in 2016 when he came across the 2005 Esquire article “The SING SING Follies,” a story about the Sing Sing facility’s RTA participants. According to its website, RTA “helps people in prison develop critical life skills through the arts, modeling an approach to the justice system based on human dignity rather than punishment.” Less than 3% of RTA participants return to prison after their release.

After several years of research, Kwedar and crew began filming in mid-2022. In an uncertain moment for the industry, the film’s press tour and subsequent Toronto debut in 2023 coincided with the SAG-AFTRA strikes. Still, the film was picked up by A24 and is set to release in select theaters on July 12.