'In Prison My Whole Life'

London and Rome Film Festivals

2007-09-18T16:01:00.000Z

Great news,

'In Prison My Whole Life' has been accepted to have it's worldwide premiere in the 51st BFI Film Festival and the Rome Film Festival in Italy.

The film will premier on the same night on Thursday, October 25th. Marc Evans, the films director will be presenting the film in Italy, while myself, Colin and Livia Firth, Nicola Giuggiolli, Katie and numerous others involved in the project will be in London.

For the London film festival, the film will be shown at the Odeon Leicester Square at 6.30pm on the 25th of October for it's official world premiere. It will then have a second screening at the BFI Southbank Studio on the 26th of October at 7.30pm. On the 28th of October at 2.15pm we will have a third screening as part of the festival at the Ritzy Cinema in Brixton with a Q & A session with myself and Marc Evans after the film.

To read about it click here

When I have more info about the Rome festival, I'll let you know.

Personally, I'm still a bit in shock about it since when we started this I couldn't imagine it getting into the film festivals and sitting on a billing of 'New British Cinema' with Nick Broomfield.

I'm a bit nervous about the attention and having to do question and answer sessions but it's a good chance to get more of a debate going about Mumia's case and the upcoming decision in the third circuit.

Check in with the myspace page to keep up to date with the screenings as well.

Tickets go on sale to non-BFI members on the 29th of September. We're hoping for a full house so we'll hope to see you there.

Myspace and Amnesty

2007-09-18T14:58:00.001Z

Good news!

The film has been picked up for sponsorship by Myspace and Amnesty International!

Arguably for a small documentary like ours that is trying to punch above it's weight a little bit, we couldn't have had two better people on board.

Amnesty have backed the film worldwide as part of the organisation's ongoing campaign against the death penalty. The have had a long running interest in the case and as I wrote in a previous post, they have called for a new trial for Mumia citing his original trial as being 'in violation of the minimum international standards for fair trials'. To view their original report on the case which was also released in book format go here.

To read Amnesty's press release on backing the film go here.

Myspace have taken the film on as part of their ongoing venture into promotion of small films as well as their big ones. Recently Myspace UK were responsible for the myspace movie mashup which set out to create a competition for upcoming film makers to pitch a script, demonstrate their skills, network and even cast parts through the social networks of the site.

So hopefully having these two organisations on board will help us in making our film bigger and better than we had previously thought possible.

Final Cut

2007-09-18T14:22:00.000Z

Sorry, it's been a while since I have written anything on the blog.

The process has taken longer than any of us imagined really. Since wrapping up filming at the end of the summer last year we have been working to cut the film and get to make sense and entertain. This is no small feat I assure you since we interviewed 37 people whilst making this film and shot over 160 hours of footage.

It's hard when you've worked on a project for so long, especially since it's been a personal journey in every sense of the word, to finally look back and have to cut lots of the interviews out.

Luckily, Marc had the executive say on that and after months of sitting in a cold dank room in the nether regions of ealing studios the film was pretty much cut and ready to go.......

We thought.

We started gearing up for doing the voice over, graphics, dub and online and get ready to sit back and feel like we'd completed our task but because of some problems we had to re-cut the film and shoot a little more.

We've since been back out to the states earlier this year and spent another few months recutting. Everyone has been absolutely legendary in making it happen.

First of all Marc and Mags the editor who actually had to slog through the changes. Livia for making it all happen, Michael Schiffman for his input and foreign office for redoing the graphics over and over again till they were right.

So after many trips to Cardiff to do voice over and work on the dub we are finally here! Finished!!!!!

So the trailer has gone up on youtube, the myspace is in action, we're spreading the word and making it happen.

Filming In The States/Visit with Mumia

2007-03-30T12:50:00.000Z

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

Buildup to First Trip

2007-03-09T13:47:00.000Z

After Paris, we've just been working away at researching and making contacts with people in America who we are going to interview etc.

The most important thing is that Marc Evans has come on board to direct the film. Katie and I met him in a Starbucks a few weeks ago for a coffee and to tell him about the story. Originally he thought he would be busy and though it best that the two of us get a camera and go, and make it a very homemade project. However, now Marc's free so it looks like he'll be coming and directing, which is great since it means I can concentrate on asking the questions and not have to worry about anything else.

We did an interview with Piers Bannister, Amnesty International's premiere on the death penalty and the author of their report on Mumia's case the other day.

He's a lovely guy and located in London, so it was an easy interview to do. Amnesty backed Mumia's case for a multitude of reasons it seems. Not only did they think that he had not had a fair trial, but also because as he had become a symbol and I think they thought it would help to raise awareness of the death penalty in general.

So far in America, the plan is to first interview my mum, Amy Goodman, Frances Goldin (Mumia's Literary Agent), Dave Lindorff (author), Linn Washington (Teacher and Mumia's Contemporary), Pam Africa (movement leader), and others.

I've also been speaking to the F.O.P or fraternal order of police. They are the leading campaigners against Mumia and are eagerly pursuing the death sentence. So far they have been very courteous to me, and I hope that they will partake in the film, as I want it to be balanced. After speaking with them though, I can already tell that they are very nervous about where I stand on the issues.

We're off in a couple of weeks.
More from me then.

France

2007-03-09T12:18:00.000Z

I am currently in Paris, here to film the street naming of a city in Paris after Mumia.

It's quite exciting as for the first time I've met alot of the people that I have been talking to about making the film for a long time. I met Robert Bryan, who's Mumia's attorney and Pam Africa, who's kind of the figurehead of the Mumia support network.

They were all really nice people, and all thought that it was pretty crazy that I was born on the day of the shooting and represented Mumia's incarceration.

They had a ceremony for unveiling, and many local politicians, activists and families came out to witness the unveiling and partake in the celebration. There was great music and food and people doing street art. There's something about the French, that you have to love in their love of political struggle, and although everyone there was present for a serious issue, it did not stop them from enjoying being together with each other and celebrating at the same time.

I got a shock at one point as Julia Wright, who's one of the organiser's of the french Mumia support (and the daughter writer, Richard Wright) asked me to make a speech on the stage. I was pretty nervous but I guess I'm going to have to get used to public speaking. I did ok and kept it as short as possible. I got a laugh and a cheer so it couldn't have been too bad.

I think for me, the most astounding part was that from a lone death row cell in Pennsylvania, Mumia Abu-Jamal had been able to influence this gathering of people in Paris to honour him. Whether you think Mumia's guilty or innocent or you don't really care, you can't help but be astounded by that. It's amazing the outreach that he has and the impact that he's making. I'm already hoping, that if nothing else, our film can convey that achievement because it really is remarkable.

First Meeting

2007-03-09T11:20:00.000Z

Today Me and Katie met Livia Firth and her brother Nicola.
They had heard about the project through a mutual friend and had contacted Katie to meet up and have a chat about it. It's pretty amazing, because at the moment, we have been trying to make it happen, and have needed someone who knew what they were doing and have the right connections to really make it happen.

Livia is married to the actor Colin Firth, and has produced documentaries before. She loves the project. I don't know what will happen now, but we have all agreed to get the project moving. At the moment, me and katie are still both working for the homeless, but we'll see how it goes and work on it in our spare time as we've been doing.

I'm feeling good about it, and after a while of trying to get it moving and not being sure of how to make it all happen, it's nice to have something happen that makes you feel more positive.

Onwards and Upwards really.

What's this all about?

2006-10-17T13:13:00.000Z

I was born on December 9th 1981, in a childrens hospital long since closed near Archway, North London. My mother Donna, had only been living in the country about a year, since she met my father Colin in New York (her native home), whilst he was teaching Sociology at Nassau Community College in Long Island. Here they are:

At the same time that I was coming into the world and a new life was beginning, another tragically ended on the other side of the world.

At around 4am in Philadelphia, shots rang out and Police Officer Daniel Faulkner was dead. Slumped over the curb, bleeding from a gunshot wound, was Mumia Abu-Jamal. Mumia, a former black panther/radio journalist/cab driver survived and was later convicted of the murder of officer Faulkner.

I cannot really go into all of the details and wouldn't want to make any mistakes so for more info check here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumia_Abu-Jamal

Mumia was convicted and sentenced to death in 1982 and has been incarcerated ever since (effectively, my entire life). However, this case has become a lightning rod of controversy. In 1996, Mumia released a book entitled 'Live From Death Row', a collection of essays he had written whilst behind bars. Whether you believe Mumia is innocent or not, it would seem that he definitely has a way with words, and before anyone knew what was happening, giant movements had grown on both sides of the debate over his guilt.

In the last ten years, Mumia has become a symbol for the anti death penalty movement and a regular radio commentator and writer. Many call for his freedom citing what they see as a flawed trial and a racist police force and judiciary. There has arisen an international support network, and mumia has become an honorary citizen of a few European cities from behind bars.

See: http://www.freemumia.org/ http://www.mumia.org/freedom.now/

For others, Mumia is a guilty man who not only has murdered a cop, but has arrogantly flaunted his 'celebrity' status and used his skill as a writer to rally a cause around him. They say that all of the debate over his guilt is based in lies, and that he deserves to be executed and the sooner the better. This movement has grown in response to the pro Mumia movement, and is largely spearheaded by the Fraternal Order of Police, an organisation of police brotherhood.

See: http://www.danielfaulkner.com/ http://www.fop.net/causes/faulkner/index.shtml

In the middle you have the vast majority of people, who still feel that they don't know what happened on the night and have no idea whether Mumia is guilty of the shooting of Faulkner or not. Alot of people believe there are definite questions over the fairness of the trial proceedings in 1982 and also in later appeals hearings but are not sure of the actual events. Amnesty International have cited problems with the fairness of the legal system in this case and have called for an in depth trial to figure out what did happen.

In terms of the actual events of the night, I think that there are multiple likely scenarios. It seems to me, if Mumia is guilty of killing Faulkner, then the police were negligable in the extreme in their investigation. The other scenario is that Mumia isn't guilty of murder and they tried to manipulate what they did have to make it fit.

I have read Mumia's books and followed his case for some time now, always being drawn in by the idea that Mumia had been away for my entire life. That said. it doesn't leave me feeling any more certain of what actually happened on the day I came into the world. Not only am I curious about the way that justice has been dealt, but also by the man himself. What's it been like spending every day that I have ever lived in a tiny cell on your own. And how has he been able to have such an outreach as to be able to create such movements (pro and anti) from such an isolated existence? You can read all you want but nothing is quite the same as going to find out!