Filming In The States/Visit with Mumia
We've arrived in America, and have been filming for about a week.It's been an amazing experience so far. The first interview was the easiest as it was with my Mom/Mum. She was the one who really put me on to Mumia in the first place. She's a real progressive thinker and has always been very concerned about the death penalty and other social justice issues, so she had instilled them in me and always made me aware of this guy that had been 'In Prison My Whole Life'.
Then we did interviews with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now. Amy's an amazing journalist, and is consistently on top of what's going on in the world. She's been an absolute hero to many in the states who have found it hard to get information which is sometimes hard to access with an increasingly dumbed down media.We also did an interview with Frances Goldin who is Mumia's literary agent and a lovely woman. She's 82 years old, and is still going so strong and fighting for issues that she believes in. It was almost impossible to not be awed by her.
We then left for Pittsburgh for a short one hour drive to Waynesburg where Mumia has been incarcerated for the last decade. It's a pretty strange old mining town, where now the main employer is a maximum security prison. It's a rural town with an almost entirely white population. Considering that allot of the inmates are urban minorities who have been sent up to an 8 hour drive from where they lived, the racial tension is understandably great. Charles Graner, the main culprit in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal was a guard at SCI Greene for many years before touring in Iraq. He was only one of many guards who have had accusations of prisoner abuse levelled at them in the past.
Katie and I were quite nervous, and I don't think I slept more than an hour the night before. I had never been in a prison before let alone death row in a maximum security institution.
I always thought of prisons as being cramped, loud, smelly and crazy, but this couldn't be further from the truth when it came to S.C.I. Greene. It was so sterile and clean and smelled of bleach, there were no sounds and we didn't see a single person, or in fact anything alive in the place. It was pretty disconcerting.We walked through loads of corridors, and doors would open in front of you as you were being watched through CCTV. In the end we arrived at a little door with a room split by bullet proof glass. On each side was a small table and Mumia was sitting on the other side.
I was really nervous, and Katie was a bit overwhelmed at first, but after five or ten minutes chatting we settled in and Mumia made us feel very comfortable. What do you say in these situations? It's not your average awkward conversation and you want to be respectful but at the same time personable. We talked first about what it was like there, what he eats, sees on TV, his daily routine etc. Before we knew it we were talking politics, sport, music and art and I couldn't believe how much Mumia knew and was connected to. He reads constantly and stays in contact with as much as he can. He was very interested in life in England and our press and how it differs from some American journalism.
Any time we talked about him in reference to the outside world, like the movement surrounding him or the film, he didn't really seem interested. I guess it's impossible for him to connect with aspects of the movement that are going on outside (for and against him) and it's important to remember just how isolated he is. He didn't try to guide our hand with the film or tell us who to interview or not. He also didn't show any reservations when we said we'd be interviewing the Police and District Attorney and those that are against him.
Either way, he made us feel very welcome, and we both came out of the prison actually feeling optimistic rather than what we thought we'd be feeling. There's something about seeing someone who has so much to feel depressed about, but who stays optimistic and positive. It really is contagious and I felt good on our way out.We are now on to Philadelphia to finish our interviews for our first trip.
I'll keep you updated after we've done them.
Cheers,
Will
Then we did interviews with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now. Amy's an amazing journalist, and is consistently on top of what's going on in the world. She's been an absolute hero to many in the states who have found it hard to get information which is sometimes hard to access with an increasingly dumbed down media.We also did an interview with Frances Goldin who is Mumia's literary agent and a lovely woman. She's 82 years old, and is still going so strong and fighting for issues that she believes in. It was almost impossible to not be awed by her.
We then left for Pittsburgh for a short one hour drive to Waynesburg where Mumia has been incarcerated for the last decade. It's a pretty strange old mining town, where now the main employer is a maximum security prison. It's a rural town with an almost entirely white population. Considering that allot of the inmates are urban minorities who have been sent up to an 8 hour drive from where they lived, the racial tension is understandably great. Charles Graner, the main culprit in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal was a guard at SCI Greene for many years before touring in Iraq. He was only one of many guards who have had accusations of prisoner abuse levelled at them in the past.
Katie and I were quite nervous, and I don't think I slept more than an hour the night before. I had never been in a prison before let alone death row in a maximum security institution.
I always thought of prisons as being cramped, loud, smelly and crazy, but this couldn't be further from the truth when it came to S.C.I. Greene. It was so sterile and clean and smelled of bleach, there were no sounds and we didn't see a single person, or in fact anything alive in the place. It was pretty disconcerting.We walked through loads of corridors, and doors would open in front of you as you were being watched through CCTV. In the end we arrived at a little door with a room split by bullet proof glass. On each side was a small table and Mumia was sitting on the other side.
I was really nervous, and Katie was a bit overwhelmed at first, but after five or ten minutes chatting we settled in and Mumia made us feel very comfortable. What do you say in these situations? It's not your average awkward conversation and you want to be respectful but at the same time personable. We talked first about what it was like there, what he eats, sees on TV, his daily routine etc. Before we knew it we were talking politics, sport, music and art and I couldn't believe how much Mumia knew and was connected to. He reads constantly and stays in contact with as much as he can. He was very interested in life in England and our press and how it differs from some American journalism.
Any time we talked about him in reference to the outside world, like the movement surrounding him or the film, he didn't really seem interested. I guess it's impossible for him to connect with aspects of the movement that are going on outside (for and against him) and it's important to remember just how isolated he is. He didn't try to guide our hand with the film or tell us who to interview or not. He also didn't show any reservations when we said we'd be interviewing the Police and District Attorney and those that are against him.
Either way, he made us feel very welcome, and we both came out of the prison actually feeling optimistic rather than what we thought we'd be feeling. There's something about seeing someone who has so much to feel depressed about, but who stays optimistic and positive. It really is contagious and I felt good on our way out.We are now on to Philadelphia to finish our interviews for our first trip.
I'll keep you updated after we've done them.
Cheers,
Will
posted by reel nice at 12:50 pm
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