czeXperiment: Inside the Circle – A Prison Vote

Jan Látal / Czech Republic / 30 min.

synopsis

Ninety men. Forty questions. A vote is taking place in the Pardubice prison, in which prisoners enter a circle and answer questions about their childhood, male identity, fatherhood, guilt, and hopes for a new beginning. The format follows on from the successful film Matky za mřížemi, made in a women's prison. This time, it turns its attention to men's experiences of punishment and social exclusion. The film was made as part of the author's czeXperiment project, which uses social experiments to raise fundamental social issues and give a voice to people who are not heard.

biography

Jan Látal (*1980) is a Czech documentary filmmaker, director, and screenwriter. His work combines experimentation with civic engagement. He is the author of the media project czeXperiment. Audiences at Ji.hlava have already had the opportunity to see his documentary films Paroubkové (2011), Česká pivní válka (2014), and Tahle doba není pro nás (2021).