The cast includes Oscar nominees Colman Domingo and Chicago's Paul Raci, who tells ABC7's Hosea Sanders what it's like bringing the true story to the screen.
Raci plays Brent Buell, a theater director who spent a decade in the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program at maximum security prisons.
The actor spoke about what he found that he could relate to about Brent and what he liked about him.
"How I relate to that is, when I went to Vietnam, in '69, I came back in '73, was going to the University of Illinois at Chicago circle campus," Raci said. "There was a man there named William Raffeld. I was angry, confused, doing a lot of drugs at the time, I must say, not a very happy man, and this man saved my life. This acting teacher, he got me in touch with my own humanity."
Men who were actually in the arts project while incarcerated are standouts in the cast.
"The recidivism rate, the people who go back in after they've been out, is 67% for the men who went through this program," Raci said. "This is an acting program, the recidivism rate is 3%."
A big part of the whole story is listening to people and making them feel seen in environment of incarceration.
"That's what's so powerful about watching the guys go through the experience of becoming actors, and there's this one guy who had this aha moment of, "my God what have I done? Now I get it and I'm behind these bars,'" Raci said.
READ MORE | Oscar-nominated actor Paul Raci debuting new movie 'Sing Sing' at Chicago Critics Film Festival
Raci also reflected on the experience of working with his fellow Oscar-nominated co-star.
"Colman Domingo is the man, he's the man of the hour," Raci said. "So real, so wonderful, warm. I always tell Colman Domingo, when I grow up I wanna be just like him: generous, giving, a lover."
Raci and his wife Liz are White Sox fans, but he's got a pal with Dodgers tickets!
"They're good seats. That's the only time I have to wear the hat," Raci said. "You White Sox, I'm following you. I'm with you, but it's breaking our hearts... it's breaking our hearts!"
The performances in "Sing Sing" are so compelling, there's already Oscar buzz for the actors. That includes some of the men who were once in prison who are part of the cast.