{"id":33435,"date":"2025-02-04T14:03:14","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T19:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hunterword.com\/?p=33435"},"modified":"2025-02-04T14:03:14","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T19:03:14","slug":"film-review-i-am-ready-warden-2025-oscar-nominatedbestdocumentaryshortfilm-greggwmorris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.hunterword.com\/index.php\/film-review-i-am-ready-warden-2025-oscar-nominatedbestdocumentaryshortfilm-greggwmorris\/","title":{"rendered":"<small><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>A Whopping Poetic Slam Dunk:<\/strong><\/span><\/small><br>I AM READY, WARDEN. By Smriti Mundhra, Director of This Oscar\u00ae Nominated Best Documentary Short Film (2025)"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><em>2024 Critics Choice Awards Documentary Nominee &#8211; Best Short Documentary; 2024 Cinema Eye Awards Nominee &#8211; Best Short Documentary; 2024 Austin Film Festival &#8211; Best Documentary Short, Audience Award and Jury Prize; 2024 DOC NYC Short List<\/em><\/h3>\n<h3><strong>Convicted of a vicious murder when he was a teen youth spinning out of control. Years later caught by Texas law enforcement and subsequently sentenced to death after law enforcement caught up with him, <\/strong><strong>John Henry Ramirez \u2013 the light at the end of the tunnel bearing down on him \u2013 reaches out to his victim&#8217;s son, Aaron Castro, while he, Ramirez, is also preparing his final goodbye to his family. {Ramirez was executed in Texas in 2022.}<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"I am Ready, Warden (2024) || Official Trailer\" width=\"656\" height=\"369\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yDk9Vxe2d6Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Directed by Smriti Mundhra whose riveting masterpiece resonates like a cinematic allegory of the human condition. Stirring anecdotes and vignettes as well as features of cinema v\u00e9rit\u00e9, ethnography, investigative and in-depth journalism, all forming a cinematic gestalt in Mundhra&#8217;s pursuit of truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I AM READY WARDEN can\u00a0 make many in the audience feel as if they are being swept up into an existential moment 37-minutes-and-a-few-seconds- long that could resonate for a lifetime.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr align=\"center\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"1\" width=\"60%\" \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-33467\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/pub-i-2-am-300x173.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"173\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staging.hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/pub-i-2-am-300x173.jpg 300w, https:\/\/staging.hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/pub-i-2-am-768x443.jpg 768w, https:\/\/staging.hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/pub-i-2-am-560x323.jpg 560w, https:\/\/staging.hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/pub-i-2-am-260x150.jpg 260w, https:\/\/staging.hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/pub-i-2-am-160x92.jpg 160w, https:\/\/staging.hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/pub-i-2-am.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>John Henry Ramirez Deathbed Post Mortem Eulogy.<\/strong> All right, let&#8217;s see. Y&#8217;all can still hear me right? Y&#8217;all can still hear me? All right. If y&#8217;all are seeing this, then obviously the State of Texas has murdered me. I&#8217;m sorry that y&#8217;all had to go through that.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>I just want to say thank you for being there for me all these years. Thank you for everything. It&#8217;s been rough, but it&#8217;s been good having y&#8217;all with me, all y&#8217;all that stuck with me.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>And once again, I&#8217;m sorry you had to go through this, but my pain is over. My suffering is over. All of y&#8217;all that know me, I know I made the most changes I could. I bettered myself as much as I could, and hopefully that&#8217;s enough.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr align=\"center\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"2\" width=\"80%\" \/>\n<hr align=\"center\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"2\" width=\"80%\" \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Director Smriti Mundhra&#8217;s film is to Be made available for free at more than 250+ U.S. law schools. To gain access to the Texas prison system, Mundhra collaborated with journalist Keri Blakinger, whose New York Times Magazine article, \u201cThe Dungeons and Dragons Players Of Death Row\u201d was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. The film is produced by Maya Gnyp, Keri Blakinger, Nina Anand Aujla, Smriti Mundhra and executive producers are Sheila Nevins, Nina L. Diaz, Liza Burnett Fefferman.<\/p>\n<p>Mundhra is a DGA-winning, Academy Award-nominated and three-time Emmy-nominated filmmaker. She recently created and directed Netflix\u2019s THE ROMANTICS, a four-part documentary series about the history of Bollywood, featuring interviews and footage from 35 of its biggest stars. Additionally, her 2019 documentary short ST. LOUIS SUPERMAN was nominated for an Oscar and tells the story of a battle rapper-turned-Congressman lobbying for gun rights. It was supported by Judd Apatow, Brad Pitt, and Mark Ruffalo and sold in a multi-studio bidding war to MTV Documentary Films.<\/p>\n<p>Mundhra is also the creator, director, and EP of the Emmy-nominated Netflix show, INDIAN MATCHMAKING, now in its third season, as well as its spin-off JEWISH MATCHMAKING. Her debut feature documentary, A SUITABLE GIRL, premiered at Tribeca and won her the Best Debut Director prize.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to her extensive non-scripted success, Smriti more recently directed two episodes of Season 3 of Mindy Kaling\u2019s NEVER HAVE I EVER for Netflix\/UTV and directed an episode of Amazon\/Freevee\u2019s THE PRADEEPS OF PITTSBURGH, EP\u2019ed by Michael Showalter. Smriti is also adapting the best-selling novel BORN CONFUSED by Tanuja Desai Hidier for television for Wayfarer Studios and co-wrote and will executive produce an original comedy series for Netflix.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/smritimundhra\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\" style=\" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\">\n<div style=\"padding:16px;\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/smritimundhra\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" style=\" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;\" target=\"_blank\"> <\/p>\n<div style=\" display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;\">\n<div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; 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font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;\">View this profile on Instagram<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 12.5% 0;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;\">\n<div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-left: 8px;\">\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-left: auto;\">\n<div style=\" width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;\">\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/smritimundhra\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" style=\" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;\" target=\"_blank\">Smriti Mundhra<\/a> (@<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/smritimundhra\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" style=\" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;\" target=\"_blank\">smritimundhra<\/a>) \u2022 Instagram photos and videos<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>About MTV Documentary Films: <\/strong>In less than four years, MTV Documentary Films has worked with high-profile filmmakers on timely stories that have already garnered three Oscar\u00ae-nominations, seven Oscar shortlists, a Peabody\u00ae Award, two Emmy\u00ae-nominations and an Emmy win.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7155\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7155\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-7155\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/gwm-700x700-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"200\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-7155\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Publisher, Editor, Reviewer Gregg W. Morris<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>John Henry Ramirez Deathbed Post Mortem Eulogy.<\/strong> All right, let&#8217;s see. Y&#8217;all can still hear me right? Y&#8217;all can still hear me? All right. If y&#8217;all are seeing this, then obviously the State of Texas has murdered me. I&#8217;m sorry that y&#8217;all had to go through that. Thank you for everything. It\u2019s been rough, but it\u2019s been good having y\u2019all with me, all y\u2019all that stuck with me.<\/em> \u2013 Excerpts of John Henry Ramirez&#8217;s eulogy about his execution.  Article, review by Gregg W. Morris<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-p\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.hunterword.com\/index.php\/film-review-i-am-ready-warden-2025-oscar-nominatedbestdocumentaryshortfilm-greggwmorris\/\">Read more &rarr;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":33468,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2269,1690,29,15,821],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2269","category-bombshell-breaking-news","category-film-tv","category-news-commentary-opinion-fit-to-print","category-short-flms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33435"}],"version-history":[{"count":82,"href":"https:\/\/staging.hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33524,"href":"https:\/\/staging.hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33435\/revisions\/33524"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}