The gymnasium at the state prison in Otisville does not usually look like so festive. But it was a special night.

Filmmaker Ashley Brandon is one of many filmmakers the Tribeca Film Institute has sent to Otisville over the last several years to share movies and meet with inmates.

For the inmates at these screenings, watching and discussing the documentaries can be a cathartic chance for connection to something outside the prison fence.

“It opens everybody's mind to what's going on because there's a lot of individuals here that have been incarcerated here twenty-plus years and haven't been in society so they get to see everything that's going on,” said Wilbert Serrano, an inmate at the Otisville Correctional Facility.

Wilbert Serrano is set to be released from Otisville in May. And he knows what he wants to do when he gets out thanks to another program at Otisville, John Jay College's prison-to-college pipeline.

“I've got a 4.0 GPA, which I'm really proud of,” Serrano said. “I plan to attend John Jay when I get home. I have a lot of plans.”

There are about 50 inmates in the program taking college classes taught by John Jay professors.

“Our students begin college on the inside and then they are guaranteed a place in CUNY when they are released,” said Baz Dreisinger, a John Jay College prison-to-college pipeline professor. “And we work with them on all aspects of their release to ensure a smooth transition between inside and outside.”

John Jay College and the TriBeCa Film Institute gathered with inmates, state officials and celebrity supporters at Otisville to showcase their outreach to inmates. And celebrate the results.

“Allowing people to grow and learn and continue their educations in a very unexpected place is something I am very, very much a proponent of,” said actress Allison Williams.

The incarcerated men in these programs are starting to open doors to the outside world. Doors they hope to pass through as soon as possible.