The Farm: Angola, USA

The Farm: Angola, USA
Directed by Liz Garbus
Wilbert Rideau
Jonathan Stack
Produced by Liz Garbus
Jonathan Stack
Written by Bob Harris
Narrated by Bernard Addison
Cinematography Sam Henriques
Bob Perrin
Edited by Mona Davis
Mary Manhardt
Release date
  • 1998 (1998)
Running time
 88 minutes
Country United States
Language English

The Farm: Angola, USA is a 1998 award-winning documentary set in the notorious and largest American maximum-security prison Louisiana State Penitentiary, known as Angola. Loosely based on articles published in Life Sentences, drawn from the prison magazine, The Angolite , the film was directed and produced by Jonathan Stack and Liz Garbus. Wilbert Rideau, a life prisoner who had been editor of the magazine since 1975, also participated in direction and was credited on the film.

The film follows the lives of six prison inmates, including Rideau, who tell their own stories of life, death, and survival in a world that few manage to leave. It was filmed during the early years of the long tenure of Warden Burl Cain (1995-2016), who is credited with reducing violence at the prison and establishing many programs to support rehabilitation of the men.

The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.[1] It won an Emmy Award, the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury prize, and both the New York and the Los Angeles Film Critics awards for Best Documentary of ‘98.

Years later, Stack followed up with the documentary The Farm: 10 Down (2009), exploring the lives of the survivors of this group 10 years later. One man had been executed and one had died during the making of the first film. Ten years later, three men had gained freedom; two of the first six remained in prison.

Inmates profiled
InmateYear imprisonedSentenceConviction
John A. Brown Jr.1986Death; executed in 1997[2]First-degree murder and robbery
George Crawford1997LifeFirst-degree murder
Wilbert Rideau1961Death (commuted to life in 1972); freed in 2005 after 4th trialFirst-degree murder and kidnapping
Vincent Simmons1977100 yearsTwo counts of attempted aggravated rape
Eugene "Bishop" Tanniehill1959Life; freed by Gov. Kathleen Blanco in August 2007Second-degree murder and armed robbery[3]
Logan 'Bones' Theriot1960Life; died of lung cancer in 1997[2]Murder of wife
Ashanti Witherspoon197275 years; paroled in 1999[4]Armed robbery

Awards

References

  1. ↑ "NY Times: The Farm: Angola, USA". NY Times. Retrieved 2008-11-22.
  2. 1 2 Ann S. Lewis, "Life and Nothing But", Austin Chronicle, 06 November 1998; accessed 22 May 2017
  3. ↑ "Ex-inmate shares story, hope". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2016-12-04.
  4. ↑ "About Me". Ashanti Witherspoon. Retrieved 2016-12-04.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.