Every month, Guernica’s multimedia editor, Mary Wang, selects a new documentary as part of our partnership with Social Impact Media Awards (SIMA). These works were produced by filmmakers around the globe, but are united in their commitment to advancing social justice through compelling narratives and captivating imagery.

For this month’s documentary, the setting is Coyote Ridge Corrections Center, where the prison’s debate team joins forces with students from Washington State University to discuss gun control, even though many of the incarcerated debaters have landed there precisely for firearm-related crimes. Both students and inmates deliver impassioned arguments on the pro and con side of the debate. But what becomes clear is that, no matter which side wins, the teams have all fulfilled the purpose of debate itself: to learn to see things from the other’s perspective.

SIMA is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt arts organization. It exists to advance global awareness, social justice, human rights, and education by supporting filmmakers on the front lines of social change. SIMA started as the first and only international media competition honoring achievements in the creative, human rights, and humanitarian fields. Today, SIMA is the most renowned global curator in the social impact space, serving the independent-film, academic, and social justice sectors around the world. The organization now consists of several programs, including SIMA Classroom, SIMA RAMA, and SIMAx, which all have the purpose of effecting change through social impact cinema.