FILM EXPLORES HUMAN DRAMA INSIDE SOLEDAD PRISON

Seven years, three men, one prison. What happens when a court order and an anti-violence program challenge deeply entrenched prison culture?

That’s the issue explored in the documentary, In an Ideal World, shot in Soledad Prison. Filmmaker Noel Schwerin will be on hand when it is screened at 7 p.m. on Dec. 3 at Cal State Monterey Bay’s World Theater. The public is invited to this free event.

The film gives us an intimate and stirring portrait of three men – a warden, a white separatist and a black ex-gangbanger – on the front lines of power and race in America as it goes deep inside the prison to explore, and honor, the human drama at the core of America’s locked-down racial order. It’s told first hand, without outside experts or narration. Over many years, John, Sam and the warden have learned how to navigate prison’s violent and deeply entrenched, racially divided culture, but then they find themselves on the cusp of potentially radical change. For the first time, a novel mixed-race workshop offers inmates alternatives to violence, just as a U.S. Supreme Court order presses California to stop segregating its cells, reversing decades of official policy and upsetting the racial high wire.

A panel discussion featuring representatives of the incarcerated community as well as corrections, restorative justice, drug and mental health support groups, community-based violence and gang reduction and diversion programs will follow the 83-minute film.

The event is sponsored by the Cinematic Arts Department and the World Theater.

DETAILS

ABOUT THE FILMMAKER

Noel Schwerin has written, produced and directed award-winning films, including the PBS specials Bloodlines, and the two-hour A Question of Genes. She has received awards and grants from the MacArthur Foundation, the Sundance Documentary Fund, the Society of Professional Journalists and the California Council for the Humanities. In 1998, she founded the nonprofit educational media company Backbone Media.

Published Nov. 18, 2015