Solitary (short film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Solitary |
| Country of production | United States |
| Publishing year | 2020 |
| length | 15 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | James Burns , Shal Ngo |
| script | James Burns, Shal Ngo |
| production |
Chris Wilson , Jake Ewald , Gabriela Dematteis |
| music | Jay Wadley |
| camera |
Scott Siracusano , Josh Kraszewski |
| cut | Stacy Kim |
| occupation | |
| |
Solitary is a partially animated short documentary by James Burns and Shal Ngo that was first made available online to participants of the Tribeca Film Festival on April 15, 2020.
content
“The 'box', as they call it, is about the size of a parking stand . [...] 23 hours a day you are alone in the box and are only allowed to go out for an hour, but depending on the staff you may not even be allowed that. [...] After 14 days in solitary confinement , the brain begins to wither. [...] Because of this, the inmate becomes more unpredictable, disruptive and violent. You lose control. "
Viewers are first introduced to Five, who is schizophrenic and was imprisoned for 12 years. He reports how one begins to dehumanize oneself after being imprisoned in the "box". Triggered by the desire for human interaction and contact, you do things that you never thought you would do. He injured himself and tried to make sure that the guards could see his blood through the slit when they reached for food. When he was subsequently treated by a paramedic, he was told that he would now be punished for damaging state property, which he himself was considered to be property.
After Five, director James Burns recounts how he spent 12 months in jail as a teenager, 11 of those months in solitary confinement. He talks about how each violation can mean or extend the time in the box. In fact, many of these violations are deliberately committed to get the guards in and accept their blows as they are the only contact you will get.
After that women also have their say. Pam was in solitary confinement when she discovered she was pregnant. One day the shackled inmate tripped and fell to the floor. She received no medical treatment for 11 weeks and lost her child. The deceased fetus was disposed of along with the bed linen. After receiving medical treatment, she was immediately sent back to solitary confinement. Pam goes on to say that she still struggles to connect with other people. Once she was extroverted, today she is more withdrawn.
production
The film's title Solitary refers to "Solitary confinement", the English name of the individual or solitary confinement , forms of detention, in which a prisoner is isolated from all other prisoners.
Directed by James Burns and Shal Ngo , who also wrote the script. Burns himself also spent extended periods of time in solitary confinement, a month of which was voluntary. On 12 December 2016 he was in jail in Parker in La Paz County housed in Arizona. On behalf of Vice , he wanted to publicize the consequences of solitary confinement used in the US criminal justice system. "Time went by very slowly," Burns said of the time. He had used the arrival of his meals to gauge the passage of time, as there was no window in his cell through which he could see the sunrise and sunset. The stay was video documented by a camera installed in the cell. After being released from complete isolation after 30 days, Burns announced that he would also make a film about his personal experiences.
As a director and producer, Burns has already made several videos and short films, especially short documentaries, such as We Live This (2015) and Revolving Doors (2017). The Vietnamese-American filmmaker Shal Ngo previously worked in science fiction and documentary films and stop-motion animation films.
The film was made available online in April 2020 as part of the Tribeca Film Festival .
reception
In her review, Stephanie Archer of Film Inquiry notes the multitude of problems that exist in the United States' judicial system. The list is endless. The country inundates prisons with people who have made mistakes and are often born into dire circumstances. While many are focused on law enforcement metrics and the death penalty, however, there is a bigger inhuman problem that plagues prisons when hope dies and people are forgotten. Archer says that while she knew there was solitary confinement, she was completely unaware of the abuse of power it allowed and the lack of controls. Fortunately, there are films like Solitary that shed light on such abuses and show how much prisons have become places of torture and pain. If you listen to the stories of the film, it breaks your heart when you are confronted with your own ignorance as well as the general ignorance that such things are allowed to happen.
Web links
- Solitary in the program of the Tribeca Film Festival (English)
- The last four hours of James Burns' voluntary solitary confinement at the La Paz County Jail on YouTube (video)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Stephanie Archers: Tribeca Film Festival 2020: Solitary. In: filminquiry.com, May 20, 2020.
- ↑ a b Solitary. In: tribecafilm.com. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
- ↑ James Burns: Why I'm Voluntarily Going into Solitary Confinement. In: Vice, December 13, 2016.
- ↑ Jerod MacDonald-Evoy: Filmmaker James Burns to make movie about his 30 days in solitary confinement in Arizona. In: azcentral.com, January 17, 2017.
- ^ Hilary Lewis and Trilby Beresford: Tribeca Film Festival to Debut Online Programming as Films Are Judged Remotely. In: The Hollywood Reporter, April 3, 2020.
- ^ Vassilis Economou: The 19th Tribeca Film Festival is postponed. In: cineuropa.org, April 14, 2020.