The Oscar-contending short documentary Exodus , directed by Nimco Sheikhaden , follows two women “endlessly plagued by their past, even as they fiercely seek to rebuild their future.”

The women — Trinity Copeland and Assia Serrano – were both incarcerated in New York state for more than 20 years between them for crimes indelibly linked to abuse they had suffered; in Trinity’s case by her father and in Assia’s by a domestic partner. They were released from prison under New York’s Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act in New York, a law enacted in 2019 that allowed for review of sentences in cases where applicants demonstrated “that they were a victim of abuse at the time of their criminal offense.”

Copeland and Serrano both ardently wished for release, yet as the film reveals, the

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