The Petitioners Vow

THE PETITIONER’S VOW
A Documentary Short by Rahim Handy

A 48-year prison sentence was handed to one man. His wife and family have been living it with him ever since.

 

Currently in Production | 30-Minute Documentary | 2026–2027

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Short synopsis

The Petitioner’s Vow follows Candace Fleming, a wife, mother, and advocate whose husband Willie Fleming is serving a 48-year prison sentence in Texas.

For more than a decade, their marriage has survived through prison visits, monitored phone calls, paperwork, faith, advocacy, and waiting. While Willie has become a mentor and leader behind prison walls, Candace confronts a system in which rehabilitation and transformation must compete against the mathematics of a decades-long sentence.

Through intimate family access, observational filmmaking, recorded calls, and Candace’s advocacy, the documentary examines a question rarely centered in stories about incarceration: What happens when an entire family is forced to share one person’s sentence?

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The story

A Marriage Across Prison Walls

Willie Fleming entered the Texas prison system in 2012. Before his incarceration, an 18-wheeler accident led to prescription opioid use that developed into addiction, contributing to the circumstances that ultimately brought him into the criminal legal system.

Today, Willie acknowledges his past while building a different legacy. From inside prison, he mentors incarcerated men and remains actively involved in the lives of his family and community.

Outside the walls, Candace has become the family’s anchor and public advocate. Her life is shaped by the work of maintaining a marriage across distance while navigating parole policy, prison administration, family responsibilities, and the possibility that meaningful review may remain years away.

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About Candace

Candace Fleming — Wife. Mother. Advocate.

Candace is the emotional center of The Petitioner’s Vow. The film follows her through home life, community leadership, family responsibilities, prison-related communication, paperwork, advocacy, and the quiet routines required to keep a marriage intact across incarceration.

Her story transforms an enormous institutional issue into something intimate: a phone call, an empty chair, a drive across Texas, a document waiting to be reviewed, and another year added to the calendar.

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The film

Format: Documentary Short
Runtime: Approximately 30 minutes
Director / Producer: Rahim Handy
Production Company: Clear Motion Films
Status: In Production
Location: Texas

Director of Photography: Rusty Baker
Producer: Sara Carlson
Production Sound: Cole Park
Editor: Krissiha Lagos

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Visual approach

This section would distinguish the film from a standard criminal-justice documentary:

Distance becomes part of the visual language of the film.

Shot in a cinematic 2.39:1 frame, The Petitioner’s Vow uses negative space, highways, domestic interiors, institutional architecture, prison-phone audio, and the physical traces of Willie inside the Fleming home to explore presence and absence.

The camera stays close to Candace while the prison system remains physically distant but constantly present.

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Director Rahim Handy

Rahim Handy is a Dallas-based filmmaker and founder of Clear Motion Films. He is currently pursuing an MFA in Documentary Production and Studies at the University of North Texas.

His documentary work focuses on intimate character stories that intersect with larger social systems, with an emphasis on incarceration, reentry, family, community, and transformation.

With The Petitioner’s Vow, Rahim turns his camera toward the people who live on the other side of incarceration—the families whose lives continue to be shaped by a sentence long after the courtroom empties.

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Currently in Production

Production on The Petitioner’s Vow is underway across Dallas, DeSoto, East Texas, and other locations connected to the Fleming family and Texas prison system.

Existing footage includes intimate interviews, family life, community advocacy, prison-related material, phone and video communication, institutional imagery, and observational footage of Candace navigating the daily work of keeping her family connected.