Watch: Innocence Project Unveils ‘What I Didn’t Know,’ a Short Film About Strength and Resilience
A look at the challenges of life after wrongful incarceration — and the strength it takes to heal and rebuild.
12.04.25 By Innocence Staff
Renay Lynch takes a picture with her son after being freed in January 2022. (Image: Jeenah Moon/Innocence Project)
NEW YORK, Dec. 4 — The Innocence Project today released, What I Didn’t Know, a powerful short film exploring the challenges of life after wrongful incarceration and the extraordinary strength and resilience required to rebuild life in a vastly changed reality. The film follows the organization’s award-winning first anthem, Happiest Moments, which earned both Webby and Anthem Awards for emotionally capturing both the moments Innocence Project clients missed as a result of decades of wrongful incarceration and the joy of having their freedom restored.
The film, which includes an original score by composer Louis Weeks and vocalist Anesha Birchett, is produced in collaboration with Woodward Original and written and directed by Ariel Ellis, who also directed Happiest Moments. The continued partnership with Ms. Ellis is grounded in a shared commitment to honest, human stories about life after wrongful conviction.
Narrated by Innocence Project Ambassador and Emmy Award-winning actor Joe Morton, the film features Renay Lynch, Jabar Walker, and Paul Hildwin — three Innocence Project clients who collectively spent more than 85 years wrongfully incarcerated before their release. With the use of candid footage and emotionally raw reflections, What I Didn’t Know confronts the complex realities of newfound freedom, including rebuilding identity, reconnecting with family, and healing — physically and emotionally — after years of injustice.
TAMPA, FL - SEPTEMBER 23: Paul Hildwin takes pride in his community and home by taking care of the grounds of the property where he lives. He spends his free time working with his hands and fixing broken things, like generators. Paul Hildwin was set free after a 35-year struggle for justice. Hildwin spent 29 years on Florida’s Death Row before his murder conviction was overturned by new DNA evidence. (Photo by Casey Brooke Lawson/Innocence Project)
Innocence Project exoneree Renay Lynch at 2024 Innocence Network Conference in New Orleans (Image: Claire Bangers/Innocence Project).
Jabar Walker exonerated in Manhattan on Nov. 27, 2023 (Image: Elijah Craig II/Innocence Project)
Innocence Project Ambassador Joe Morton.
“The first few days weren’t good for me. The picture I had in my mind of what freedom would look like wasn’t it,” said Jabar Walker, who was exonerated after 25 years in New York in November 2023.
The film highlights the challenges, big and small, that people face: securing housing, finding a doctor or a dentist, getting identification, driver’s licenses, bank accounts, and other basic needs that can be an overwhelming minefield for newly freed and exonerated people.
“I applied for a replacement social security card. They denied me — twice. My family was gone. I had nothing,” said Paul Hildwin, who was freed in March 2020 after a 35-year struggle for justice in Florida.
But mostly, the film is a tribute to the grace and resilience of the freed and exonerated community — of the inner strength that carried them through often decades of prison and what they learned about themselves after release.
“I didn’t know I had the strength and the courage to speak out. I honestly didn’t realize I had that in me,” said Renay Lynch, who was exonerated after nearly 26 years in Buffalo, New York in January 2024.
Watch the full anthem
About the Innocence Project
The Innocence Project works to free the innocent, prevent wrongful convictions and create fair, compassionate and equitable systems of justice for everyone. Our work is guided by science and grounded in antiracism.
Since its founding by attorneys Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld in 1992, the Innocence Project has freed and/or exonerated more than 250 people and helped pass more than 250 transformative laws in statehouses around the country.
This short film is designed to draw attention to the very real issues faced by freed and exonerated people and the holistic approach — legal, legislative, practical, and emotional — that is provided by the Innocence Project to support the community.
While our litigation teams do extraordinary work to free and exonerate clients, our social work team does equally invaluable work supporting clients through these challenges, sometimes for decades after they’ve won their freedom. At the same time, the policy team fights to prevent future wrongful convictions and ensure that every state provides fair compensation for those who have been wrongfully incarcerated — often in collaboration with exonerees like Ms. Lynch.
What I Didn’t Know poignantly captures the truth that freedom is, indeed, just the first step.
Video Credits:
Director: Ariel Ellis
Post Production Producer: Carly Atto
Editor: Davis Nixon
Composer: Louis Weeks
Vocalist: Anesha Birchett
Sound Design/Mix: Mike Regan
Colorist: Dimitri Zola
VO: Joe Morton
VFX – MutinyFX
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