The Prisoner’s Song follows two days in the life of an American prisoner, one during his time incarcerated and one as a free man, providing an observational view of the issues within the American prison system.
Featuring “The Prisoner’s Song”, written by a prisoner during the mid-1920s and then stolen by Vernon Dalhart to become the first song in America to sell nearly 1.3 million copies.
Nick Kush: One of my favorite sequences in film the last few years was Brian Tyree Henry’s character’s emergence in If Beale Street Could Talk as a man who was recently released from jail. Bilal S. Haider implements a lot of the same techniques in The Prisoner’s Song as Barry Jenkins did in that scene, lingering on Skeeta Jenkins’ face to express all the pain he feels, and how the prison experience forever has a hold on someone even after they leave.
Festival Selections
WINNER HUMANITARIAN AWARD – Sedona International Film Festival
OFFICIAL SELECTION – Manchester Film Festival
OFFICIAL SELECTION – Mammoth Film Festival
OFFICIAL SELECTION – Manhattan Film Festival
OFFICIAL SELECTION – The Victoria TX Independent Film Festival
FINALIST – Carmarthen Bay Film Festival
Notes
Please consider looking into the work of these organizations and charities, and further contribute to making change for the better:
The Bail Project
National Bail Out
Black Girls Code
George Floyd Memorial Fund
Colin Kaepernick Know Your Rights Camp
The Conscious Kid
American Civil Liberties Union
Prison Policy Initiative
Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
Equal Justice Initiative
Buried Alive Project
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