128-G × Brick of Gold

This one hits heavy.

We filmed on an active maximum-security yard at Calipatria State Prison, near the California–Mexico border. Most prison footage I’d seen was shot from behind a fence on a long lens, with everything flat and far away. I pushed hard for wide lenses so we could get close enough that you feel like you’re standing on the yard right next to these men.

The fellas would gather around wanting to help, and I’d have to say, “Guys, you can’t carry the stands or they won’t let us back.” The togetherness for the greater good of the story was such a heavy hearted humbling experience that I frequently think about.

It’s a heavy subject, with so much good energy.

The film accompanies 128-G: Art and Writing from a California State Prison, published by Brick of Gold, founded by my best friend Nate Fish. The book landed at MoMA PS1 during Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration. I directed, shot, and cut the film, and took the photographs in the book on the same yard, on the same days.

If you want to know who these men really are, get the book. Profits go to Words Uncaged, which brings art, narrative therapy, and new media workshops into California’s state prisons. Every copy goes back inside.

For more info on Nate Fish.

Buy the book.