Sara - My Whole Life Was a Struggle

A short, low-budget documentary that follows a small jobbing band from the north of England called 'Hardwicke Circus' as they perform a gig and music workshop at 'Standford Hill HMP', a men's prison on the Isle of Sheppey in the south of England. Shot in Ben Archer's fly-on-the-wall 'gonzo' style of filmmaking and taken from the band's late-2019 tour of England's south coast, this documentary focuses on the joy of performance and music in an environment that does not often allow such expression. Bookended by short commentary from the band's lead singer Jonny Foster, 'Hardwicke Circus: The Prison Gig' is an uplifting ode to the power and necessity of art, even for those that society have deemed not to deserve it.

Rahiem Shabazz continues the conscience-raising dialogue generated by his acclaimed documentary Elementary Genocide: The School To Prison Pipeline with his equally hard-hitting Elementary Genocide 2: The Board of Education vs The Board of Incarceration. The Board of Education vs The Board of Incarceration uncovers the true purpose of today’s educational system and how it’s failing the African child. Going beyond the school-to-prison pipeline headlines and conspiracy theories, The Board of Education Vs. The Board of Incarceration proves that something sinister is afloat by digging deep to explore its origin, its existence and how to plot its destruction to save every Black child.

Elementary Genocide is a documentary executive produced by award winning journalist/filmmaker Rahiem Shabazz. The documentary appeals to a wide general viewership by addressing the social, cultural, political and personal ramifications of how the federal government allots money to each state, to build prions based on the failure rate of 4th and 5th graders. In America, where half of the 4th grade is reading below grade level and more African-American males are in jail than are in college, Elementary Genocide serves as a striking reminder of a flawed system in need of repair.

Richard Kuklinski was a devoted husband, loving father--and ruthless killer of over 100 people. You'll meet him in this powerful documentary that features one of the most vivid and disturbing interviews ever recorded--taped behind the walls of the prison where Kuklinski is serving two consecutive life sentences for multiple homicide.

Sortir de l'ombre

Last year, Marion (48) wrote a letter to God for New Year. She no longer wanted to be alone. May he send her a man who will protect and love her. A man with the blood of a knight. And then she found Rudi (48). The problem: he was in prison. After six visits and 59 letters from him, they both say: it's love. He is due to be released in a year and a half. Then he wants to move in with her in northern Germany. We follow the couple as they move from prison to freedom: when they visit him behind bars, when he goes out for the first time in open prison, when the problems begin. Does he have an alcohol and gambling problem or not? Will he be released early or will he give up everything? What is it like when love that began behind bars meets reality? What problems and limits will the two of them encounter? A long-term observation over a year and a half. Can love move mountains?

It’s the 1980s and the world of professional surfing is a circus of fluorescent colors, peroxide hair and radical male egos. "Girls Can't Surf" follows the journey of a band of renegade surfers who took on the male-dominated professional surfing world to achieve equality and change the sport forever. Featuring surfing greats Jodie Cooper, Frieda Zamba, Pauline Menczer, Lisa Andersen, Pam Burridge, Wendy Botha, Layne Beachley and more, "Girls Can't Surf" is a wild ride of clashing personalities, sexism, adventure and heartbreak, with each woman fighting against the odds to make their dreams of competing a reality.

A veritable city within a city, La Santé—as it is known—is an unworthy old lady: unworthy of housing human beings. Located in the heart of Paris, it needs to get back on its feet, and its closure for renovations in early July 2014 provides an opportunity to reflect on its past. Here is a non-exhaustive portrait of this Parisian prison, whose very architecture sheds light on its history and how it operates.

Tanjung Gusta Prison is the largest prison in North Sumatra. The North Sumatran region has the highest crime rate in Indonesia. In 2013, Tanjung Gusta experienced major riots caused by several internal and external problems. This could happen to other prisons in the future and will continue to worsen if the government does not fix the root cause of social issues throughout country.

Incarcerated participants in a mental health experiment watch videos of sunset-soaked beaches, wildflowers and forests on loop, prompting them to reflect on isolation and wilderness. Equal parts meditation and provocation, Blue Room identifies the damage done by withholding access to the outdoors and how we are all prisoners when the essential human need for communion with nature is denied.

In prisons ruled by toxic masculinity, dancing is an absolute taboo. But at Lancaster’s A-Yard, near Los Angeles, a group of young men, willing to take a chance to be mocked in the yard, start a dance class led by French choreographer Dimitri Chamblas. This class quickly becomes an intoxicating escape from their grim reality so they decide to create a dance show. In this exceptional context, the inmates engage with overwhelming sincerity, evoking their childhood, ganglife, the crimes, the prison, and their desire for transformation. Beyond damaged lives and a prison system on the edge of the abyss, DANCING IN A-YARD explores redemption and the capacity of human beings to reinvent themselves, when given a chance. And more importantly, how art and introspection can help see the light.

Historias de la Teleprisión

When Canada's Government takes the decision to transform the correctional system to one that puts punishment first, the country's rehabilitative prison farms are one of the first causalities. A strong opposition forms towards the farm closures and for two days in late summer of 2010, hundreds of angry protesters stand in front of Frontenac Prison Farm in the heart of Kingston, Ontario, ready to block cattle trucks brought in to remove the hundred-year-old prize dairy heard.

Twenty male inmates in a Kentucky prison form an unlikely Shakespearean acting troupe.

Having spent ten years of his life in prisons, Güney escaped from Isparta Semi-Open Prison in 1981 and went to Paris, where he would spend the last years of his life. The recognition Güney received as a filmmaker in France brought him the Palme D'or at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival for his film "The Road." The documentary builds a bridge between France and Turkey through Yılmaz Güney, tracing his footsteps in Paris, the filming process of "The Wall," the lives he influenced through his political struggle and cinema, and the stories of those who were forced to leave their country after September 12th, who came to France as immigrants, his friends and colleagues, and the life stories of exiled people whose paths somehow intersected with his during this journey.

The Internationally award winning documentary film from Norway follows a 33 year old woman's life prior to serving a 7 year prison sentence for killing her own 66 year old father. He sexually abused her from she was 6 - 17 years old. He also abused her sister who became a drug addict and died of an overdose at the age of 38. The film brings us back to her childhood and describes how sexual abuse can go on for years without anyone is reacting to it. "My beloved child" deals with issues like physical, emotional and sexual abuse, domestic problems, suicide, drug issues, societies responsibility, individual responsibility, post effects/late consequences of childhood traumas. The films is primarily made - and edited - for children and youths, in order for them to understand and put words to abuse.

Weaving together the voices of women entangled in the criminal justice system, along with leading scholars on prison abolition, this film provides a critical analysis of the disfunctionality and violence of the prison system.

A film composed of images from prisons. Quotes from fiction films and documentaries as well as footage from surveillance cameras. A look at the new control technologies, at personal identification devices, electronic ankle bracelets, electronic tracking devices.

At the end of the 70s, punk promised rebellion and self-empowerment, also for women in the scene. They fought for their place on stage among the dominant punk top dogs, battling against social norms and long-outdated female role models. This is their story.

Filmed on the plains of north-western New South Wales, this documentary looks at one man's fight against the scourge of Indigenous imprisonment in his community. Inside Out tells the story of a pastor and former prison guard, Uncle Isaac Gordon, whose dream is to see the numbers of Aboriginal youths heading to jail slashed. Gordon wants to build a 'healing centre' for troubled Aboriginal young people at risk of jail time, built on his family's ancestral land near the towns of Brewarrina and Walgett. But will government bodies get on board?