John Hulme

John Hulme is a writer/filmmaker from Highland Park, NJ. He directed the award-winning documentaries Unknown Soldier: Searching For a Father (HBO) and Blood, Sweat & Tears: A Basketball Exorcism, as well as the Highland Park African American History Project — an oral history of his hometown's black community. He is currently working on Free Tyree, about the fight to free a wrongfully incarcerated man in Pennsylvania. Hulme regularly works with the NJ Prison Justice Watch and Latino Action Network Foundation, and also teaches Documentary Filmmaking at Rutgers University.

Publications:

• No Man's Land, Dutton Books, a young adult novel to be release in 2026.

• Bagman, original horror screenplay for Lionsgate, premiered in theaters nationwide in 2024.

• The Seems, trilogy of fantasy novels for Bloomsbury Children Books.

Media Appearances/Speaking Engagements:

• TCNJ, March 2025

• 2024 FenceSitter Film Festival in Bernardsville, NJ

• 2022 MARK Conference at Rutgers University

Previous Organizations: 

• NJ Prison Justice Watch

• Latino Action Network Foundation

• American Civil Liberties Union (NJ)

Accomplishments:

• 2025 Rutgers University Provost Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Lecturer

• Created video/social media campaign that helped lead to the passage of the Isolated Confinement Restriction Act in 2019, which limited the use of solitary confinement in NJ prisons.

• Producer of Blacked Out, Winner of Best Youth Film at 2018 Harlem International Film Festival

Upcoming Projects:

• "Free Tyree," a documentary film about the fight to free a wrongfully incarcerated man in Pennsylvania.

• "Solitary," a true-crime podcast about the investigation into the NJ Department of Corrections refusal to obey the law restricting the use of solitary confinement in prisons.

• "Working Summit 2025," a social media campaign highlighting the future of prison justice reform, created entirely by Rutgers University students.

Almost all of my documentary filmmaking work focused on the fight for justice, especially in the area of prison justice reform. I also seek to integrate this work with the classes I teach at Rutgers, giving students professional filmmaking experience, and hopefully a taste of what it feels like to make a difference in the world.

Free Tyree is the first episode of Exit 9, a docuseries exploring social justice-oriented stories in New Brunswick, NJ and its surrounding communities.  Hot button issues such as race, immigration, mass incarceration and gentrification are interwoven with tales of personal triumph and heartbreak to create a unique tapestry of the American experience.  The series is being created entirely by student filmmakers from Rutgers’ Writers House and the Documentary Film Lab at Mason Gross School of the Arts. 

https://globalracialjustice.rutgers.edu/news/march-2025-project-profile-free-tyree