‘CLASSROOM 4’ Inside-Out Film Wins Best Documentary at 2025 Aspen Shortsfest

Professor Reiko Hillyer took a breath as the crowd at the historic Wheeler Opera House in Aspen, Colorado, drew quiet. Classroom 4, her documentary two years in the making, was about to premiere. She was nervous about whether the Aspen ShortsFest audience would absorb the film’s message. For over a decade now, Hillyer has taught a class at Columbia River Correctional Institution (CRCI) on the history of crime and punishment in the United States. In this class, cohorts of fifteen Lewis & Clark students and fifteen incarcerated students form a robust community through learning across the prison walls. The point of the class, as all of its students can attest, is the power of human connection. “It takes very little,” she contends, “to dissolve walls, and stereotypes, and fear.” CLASSROOM 4 film poster

After the documentary unfolded on screen, the audience erupted in an enthusiastic ovation. Reiko’s message had resonated. Days later, more good news poured in; Aspen ShortsFest named Classroom 4 the best documentary of 2025. Hillyer’s film beat out 68 featured films, selected from over 3000 applicants. The Aspen ShortsFest jury lauded Classroom 4 as “Remarkable for its bold and truthful exploration and confrontation of the prison industrial complex—and its effects on all of us, both inside and out—this film is a testament to human resilience, courage, and hope.”

Directed by Emmy-nominated filmmaker Eden Wurmfeld, Classroom 4 follows the Inside-Out class Hillyer taught in the spring of 2023. Regardless of whether or not the footage turned into a documentary, Wurmfeld and Hillyer agreed that the course and the human interactions that it fosters demanded to be recorded. “From an archival point of view, it’s important,” says Hillyer.

“This happened, and it needs to be known.” Hillyer’s recent work A Wall is Just a Wall (Duke, 2024) was an Oregon Book Award finalist which chronicles how similar interactions across prison walls have become less common over the past half-century.

Classroom 4 ‘s cinema verité style gives viewers a “fly on the wall” perspective and student connections with one another steal the show. Outside audiences can relate to the friendships formed between inside and outside students, helping break down the walls that prevent us from seeing each other for who we truly are.

According to Hillyer, “[the cinematographers] were like dancers,” and making it possible to forget they were even there. The crew took extra care to ensure the space remained conducive to vulnerability and honesty. Some incarcerated students commented that in prison, they are being watched all the time anyhow, so from their perspective, film cameras were not as imposing as one might think.

James, an incarcerated student from the 2023 class said the film moved him. “That class changed my life and the way I thought of myself.” He hopes that more viewers will be similarly affected by the powerful depiction of interaction and community between free and incarcerated people. Expect Classroom 4 community screenings in 2025-2026. Congratulations to Reiko Hillyer for her monumental work!

Reiko Hillyer, former inside student Nick Fiveoaks, and director Eden Wurmfeld win best documentary at 2025 Aspen Shortsfest for "Classroom 4" film.