From Gaol to Rectory

Att stå utanför och se in…(sv)

This Temporal World(en)

A haunting story of the FBI's dark hand in American life. In 2015, Khalil Abu-Rayyan was just a young Muslim man in Detroit, Michigan: to get by, he delivered food for his family's pizzeria. Depressed and lonely, Khalil found solace in smoking weed and looking at extremist material online. Then two young women started messaging him, and he fell in love. But one of them suggested he start doing increasingly violent things. Nothing was as it seemed. And Khalil's life would never be the same. A documentary by Garret Harkawik for the Gravel Institute.

Emperors of Nothing(fr)

Emperors of Nothing is an unprecedented immersion within Forest, a prison in Brussels notorious for its inhumane incarceration conditions, bearing witness to how the human spirit resists or submits to this harsh world. Deeply personal and candid moments shared with inmates and wardens alike, those who have forfeited or devoted their lives to prison, expose universal truths of what it means to be "behind bars".

To Be and to Have(fr)

The documentary's title translates as "to be and to have", the two auxiliary verbs in the French language. It is about a primary school in the commune of Saint-Étienne-sur-Usson, Puy-de-Dôme, France, the population of which is just over 200. The school has one small class of mixed ages (from four to twelve years), with a dedicated teacher, Georges Lopez, who shows patience and respect for the children as we follow their story through a single school year.

Prison Art(ru)

This documentary, which features Sergei Parajanov’s heartbreaking letters from prison, explores creativity among inmates and the art born in conditions designed to destroy all traces of selfhood.

A, B, C... Z(sq)

Children get ready to start the first grade. They start learning the first letters.

Deux Cancres(en)

A father films the daily efforts and struggle of his son to do his homework. Completing the school tasks is an agony that oppresses the creative passion of a restless, imaginative boy. His father gets deeply involved so he can understand what the problem is, and spends an hour every day to help him with his homework. Days, weeks, years go by, and we observe how the eagerness to learn clashes with the ghost of school dropout. The endearing relationship between father and son, a real rollercoaster of emotions, reveals with a sense of humour the contradictions in the French education system.

Survivor's Guide to Prison(en)

Today, you're more likely to go to prison in the United States than anywhere else in the world. So in the unfortunate case it should happen to you - this is the Survivors Guide to Prison.

A Tale of Singers and Murderers(en)

The documentary depicts the remarkable phenomenon of the national competition Kalina Krasnaya, organised with a flourish in which the convicts from all over Russia sing their way to victory with songs about longing, war, love and forgiveness.

The Gardener(en)

Created over 75 years and three generations, Les Quatre Vents stands as an enchanted place of beauty and surprise, a horticultural masterpiece of the 21st century. See how Frank Cabot gave birth to one of the greatest gardens in the world.

The Farm: 10 Down(en)

One decade after THE FARM: ANGOLA, USA (Oscar nominated 1999; two-time Emmy winner 1999), we go back inside Louisiana's maximum security penitentiary, to catch up with our characters' lives. While the theme of THE FARM was "to err is human, to forgive divine", we now delve more deeply and find hope for "reconciliation and release". Angola is America's oldest and largest prison, with 5,000 inmates, most of whom have received life -, or death-, sentences for violent crimes, and will never leave Angola. THE FARM continues to provide extraordinary opportunities for learning through storytelling.

El Panóptico Ciego(es)

The documentary chronicles the 139 years of the ex penitentiary García Moreno in Quito, Ecuador, and traces left by the inmates to be transferred to the new prison in the province of Cotopaxi.

Cain's Children(hu)

Three boys, they all committed murder. After discovering their haunting faces and disturbing stories in a banned prison documentary from 1984, the filmmaker goes out to find them and discovers untold secrets and a Hungary he has never known.

Mochi(ja)

Over the course of the summer until her graduation, with changes she can't control but also being protected by the mochi which looks over important times, Yuna, a 15-year old student begins to change so that she will not forget.

Portrait of Penge(en)

Film about the town of Penge featuring local personalities, housing, shopping, traffic and the Penge formation dancers.

Dark Horse(en)

The larger than life true story of how a barmaid in a poor Welsh mining village convinces some of her fellow residents to pool their resources to compete in the "sport of kings" with a racehorse they would breed and raise.

Ultimo giorno di scuola(it)

During his stay in Italy, Harlan accepted a commission from Rai and created a ruthless portrait of society through an archetypal setting. This film, set in a Roman school and filmed inside a classroom during a lesson, is a ruthless portrait of students and Italian society after the end of the protest movements of previous years.

Bewaarders(nl)

In 2016 the largest and most modern prison in the Netherlands, Judicial Complex Zaanstad, opens its doors. New architecture and a new professional modus operandi enhance the efficiency of the complex and increase the responsibility for prisoners and guards. The demanding and versatile work of guards and prison officials gives us an insight into modern prison practices.

Prisoners of Conscience(en)

An early Patwardhan documentary completed in 1978, Prisoners of Conscience focuses on the state of emergency imposed by Indira Ghandi from June 1975 through March 1977. During this time over 100,000 people were arrested without charge and imprisoned without trial. They were released only by the government that replaced Ghandi's. The film also shows that political prisoners existed in India before the state of emergency and continued after the new government was elected.

Belzer Behind Bars(en)

Turn off the alarms and throw away the keys as these two comics set the inmates of Arizona State Prison rolling with laughter.