No standing ovation at the Cannes or Sundance film festivals could match the unique emotional intensity of the one delivered to a director named B. Raheem Ballard Thursday afternoon in a stifling chapel in San Quentin.
That morning Ballard, in prison for 22 years on charges of robbery and murder, missed the world premiere of a film he directed. Die aloneand subsequent Q&A with comedian W. Kamau Bell, because the event conflicted with his parole board hearing.
“Quick update,” said one of the festival's two hosts, Juan Moreno Haines, interrupting the afternoon awards ceremony. “Raheem has been deemed eligible.” Ballard, who had been sentenced to prison until 2039, had just learned that he would soon be released and walked, blinking, into the roaring crowd in the chapel. “I'm overwhelmed,” he said. Moments later, Ballard's film won an International Documentary Association award, but he was off calling his family with the day's news.
Approximately 300 people included American fiction director Cord Jefferson, Sing Sing director Greg Kwedar, Only Mercy producer Scott Budnick, The inspection director Elegance Bratton and executive producer of PBS POV series, Erika Dilday, gathered in Chapel B for the San Quentin Film Festival. The event, the first film festival ever held inside a prison, took place October 10 and 11 at the San Francisco Bay Area's top penitentiary and featured screenings of Oscar contenders such as A24. Sing Sing and Netflix DaughterIt sits alongside films made by current and formerly incarcerated filmmakers. Sitting alongside industry figures in the audience were men, like Ballard, currently incarcerated at San Quentin, wearing the blue uniforms of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Just inside the barbed wire fence and under the windows of the building that until two months ago housed California's death row, the morning began with a step-and-repeat red carpet in the courtyard, where a prison gang and coffee and pastries were served. served.
“I'm very anxious,” said Louis Sale, whose 10-minute film, Healing through Hulawould premiere that morning. “I'm nervous to see how the story will be received.” By the afternoon, Sale, a Hawaiian veteran serving 15 years to life in prison, had won best documentary short for his film about an unlikely hula dancing club in San Quentin. In his comments to the audience, Sale dedicated his film to the Hawaiian culture he gave up at age 14 “because I thought I was too cool” and to the man he killed while driving drunk in 2016, Vivaldo Quick.
The event was created by Cori Thomas, playwright and San Quentin volunteer, and Rahsaan “New York” Thomas (no relation), co-host and producer of the award-winning Ear bustle podcast, which was released by San Quentin in 2023.
Throughout the day there were signs that this was not your typical film festival. San Quentin Warden Chance Andres gave an opening speech in which he praised the “good vibes” as green-uniformed corrections officers looked on. The midday meal consisted of trifle sandwiches and pretzels: “We didn't fund everything we wanted, so you're all getting government lunches,” Rahsaan said. The power went out briefly when too many fans ran into the chapel and no one was allowed to bring a cellphone into prison, creating a rare 2024 movie event in which everyone actually appeared to be looking at the same screen at the front. of the room. During a directors' panel, one of the incarcerated directors asked if there was anyone from Tracy Morgan's TBS show The latest OG in the audience — wasn't there, but was checking because he didn't want to get offended when he described the show about an ex-con as inauthentic. “Your writers for these types of shows, we are here,” he said. “Don't guess, call me.” Presenting one of the day's awards, Anthony Gomez, who participates in San Quentin's Forward This film and television production training program, said, “I don't know about you, but today I feel free.”
For members of the Hollywood community in attendance, the event was a refreshing break from the norm. “This is one of the best days of my entire life,” Jefferson said. Kwedar, with whom he is currently in the running for awards Sing Singhe said the process “can easily consume your idea of what success is.” But sitting in the chapel of San Quentin, “I feel restored. I just feel more alive.
During the evening screening of Sing Singwhich stars Colman Domingo and Paul Raci along with a cast of formerly incarcerated men, audiences reacted to key moments and lines, snapping their fingers, leaning forward in their chairs and saying “it's true” and “preaching” like the movie on an art program at Sing Sing Maximum Security Prison.
When the post-screening Q&A was still underway at 7:55 p.m., Haines interrupted the proceedings to say, “You know what time it is. Don't get the count wrong,” a reminder to anyone in the audience who has been identified as “closely guarded,” that is, under a stricter level of supervision, to return to their cells.
“We represent all of you,” said Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin, an actor who served on Sing Sing and plays a version of himself in the film, during the question-and-answer session. “Thanks for the inspiration.”