After 50 years in prison…there’s nothing like finding happiness.

Last week, on June 3rd, over a decade later, I premiered THE FARM: TEN DOWN in Angola Prison.  The setting could not have been further removed from Park City, Utah.  Instead of a big screen in a theater, we were watching on a large size television monitor in the visiting room of the prison. Instead of filmmakers, film fanatics, media, festival directors, there were 400 inmates, guards and administrators.  Then beyond the visiting room the film was being broadcast on Angola’s closed circuit television station so the other 4500 men in the prison could also watch the film and the Q&A that was to follow.

This time I was a lot more nervous.

I was sitting behind Sean Vaughn as he ran the switcher for LSPTv (Louisiana State Penitentiary Television), Angola’s prisoner run TV station. Sean is not the station manager, but he is in the film and he was about to watch it for the first time. He appears with his wife and daughter in a very personal scene and I wondered how he’d respond to seeing his life revealed in such a public way.

The Warden was in the front row. Every time something was shown that might cause the prison concern, I got worried. The Warden had not only permitted us to make this film, but he was courageous enough to allow it to be shown here and to gather the 400 men to see it live.  Yet, if the film played poorly in this audience then perhaps he’d not allowed us the same access going forward.

A few seats down was Bishop Tanniehill.  After 52 years locked up, 50 of them at Angola, the Bishop had flown down that very morning from New York, where he now lives, with our editor and co director, Nancy Novack.  They had literally arrived minutes before the beginning of the film, just enough time to receive the applause that comes with the respect his ex fellow inmates hold for him.

One row behind the Bishop, Ashanti Witherspoon and his wife Susan were watching.  Every time a scene came up with Ashanti his face lit up. Watching him watch the film was very strange. I knew he liked it, but I wondered what it must be like to watch it in the very place that had caused him so much suffering for so long.  And yet, the smile on his face never seemed to disappear.

Elsewhere in the prison George and Vincent were watching. George in his dorm in Camp D.  Vincent in a one man cell in Camp J.  When a tense scene began I sort of wished I were with them away from the crowd.

The audience laughed at the right times.  Cheered the Bishop when he shows us his home in Brooklyn.  They were angry at the parole board scene with Vincent Simmons. It was very intense. But then, like a flash it was over.

The Warden stood up and gave one of the best speeches I’ve ever heard him give. He summarized the film, not as a movie, but as blueprint for how to live a meaningful and hopeful life in Angola prison. Each story came with a lesson.

“Guys, you study how Ashanti presented himself to the Parole Board and do the same.”
“Bishop never lost hope and took full responsibility for his deeds and miracles came his wa.y”
“George Crawford made his momma cry. Never do that. Don’t make your momma suffer any more.”
“Vincent Simmons is in a tough place and none of us can ever know if he is guilty or not, but he does not have to make his life harder here then it already is.”

…and so he helped the men digest the film and make sense of it for their lives as they sat also serving life sentences.  After Bishop, Ashanti and I spoke there were questions from the audience that showed just how much it meant to see two of their own make it out of prison and  lead meaningful lives as free people.

And there was, although it was just one evening, a sense of hope in Angola.  This hope wasn’t  based on faith or religion alone, but on the possibility that despite the terrible odds there can be a chance  to change one’s destiny and find a path to freedom.

Yes, there was so much more at stake in this screening than ten years earlier.  Was it a career changer? I don’t think so, but it was amazing!

–Jonathan Stack

Bishop Tanniehill is on YouTube!

The sequel to “THE FARM: LIFE INSIDE ANGOLA PRISON”, Academy nominated and Emmy winning documentary, will also be broadcast on the National Geographic Channel, Tuesday, June 16th 8:00 p.m. EST under the title, “A DECADE BEHIND BARS: RETURN TO THE FARM”.

Two former inmates featured in THE FARM will return to Angola for this “red carpet premiere” and participate with inmates in a Q&A with two time Academy nominated filmmaker Jonathan Stack and Warden Burl Cain.

NEW YORK, NY (May, 27, 2009) – In 1997, the documentary THE FARM: LIFE INSIDE ANGOLA PRISON reached an enormous and receptive audience and garnered many of cinema’s top awards, including the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, the LA Film Critic’s Award, the New York Film Critic’s Award, an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary, 2 Emmys and 4 Emmy nominations.

Now, Jonathan Stack and his company, Highest Common Denominator Media Group, bring us a powerful new documentary that reconnects with the surviving characters to witness first hand the impact of THE FARM and the intervening decade on their spirits and their sense of purpose. The film also chronicles profound changes at Angola Prison, once known as “the bloodiest prison in America”, where violence is down 74% and a philosophy of “Corrections” promotes education, rehabilitation and reconciliation to increase public safety.

In a groundbreaking departure from traditional film openings, THE FARM: TEN DOWN will premiere inside Angola Prison on June 3rd, 2009, before the inmates, wardens and correctional officers who have allowed their stories to be the source of documentary films for over a decade. The premier, like the film, exhibits the transformative power of hope, even behind bars. The film will be shown on the prison’s closed circuit television station, LSPTv, for the 5,100 inmates.

Two of the subjects of THE FARM – Ashanti Witherspoon and Bishop Tanniehill – will return to Angola Prison for the premier event. Ashanti was granted parole in 1999 after 27 years behind bars and Bishop was pardoned by Governor Kathleen Blanco in 2007 after nearly 50 years at Angola. Their stories help to inspire other inmates. Ashanti and Bishop will participate in a Q&A with inmates following the film’s premiere They will be joined by Q&A with inmates following the film’s premiere They will be joined by Warden Burl Cain, the warden of Angola Prison for the last decade, and by Jonathan Stack, director of the films.

The footage from the Q&A and the screening will be available online for the public and the film team will twitter live from the event updating the public regularly on the HCD Media Group-run website: www.GabrielCity.com, an online community for those affected by incarceration.

THE FARM: 10 DOWN will have its national broadcast premier on the National Geographic Channel on Tuesday, June 16th at 8pm EST, as A DECADE BEHIND BARS: RETURN TO THE FARM. National Geographic Channel is also hosting free streaming of THE FARM and WILDEST SHOW IN THE SOUTH, Jonathan Stack’s documentary about the Angola Prison Rodeo, online at Natgeotv.com/farm. They are also both available free on HULU.com

For the partners of Highest Common Denominator Media Group – Jonathan Stack, David Deniger, and Mara-Michelle Batlin, – the release of THE FARM: 10 DOWN marks a major milestone in achieving their mission to use the power of story-telling to illustrate the elements of our humanity that unite all of us, the shared values that are our highest common denominator,

HCD Media Group is also launching GabrielCity.com, an online community offering support to those affected by incarceration.
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THE FARM: 10 DOWN is directed for Highest Common Denominator Media Group by Jonathan Stack and produced by James McKay. Executive Producers are David Deniger and Mara-Michelle Batlin. Nancy Novack is the editor and co-director.

For more information please visit: http://www.hcdmediagroup.com

Jazz great Curtis Lundy composed and arranged this amazing piece of music for Highest Common Denominator Media Group’s new documentary THE FARM: 10 Down premiering June 16th at 8PM eastern time on The National Geographic Channel.

Bishop Stroll Theme