top of page

All Projects

Haiti

Liberia

World Vasectomy Day

Angola Prison

There’s a long winding road that ends at the gates of one of America’s oldest and most storied prisons.  A slave plantation from the 1700s, and a prison since 1901, today it is home to 6,300 inmates.

 

I came here the first time in 1996 to make a film about a man on death row.  I have returned consistently for nearly 20 years, compelled to tell the stories of these men, most of whom are serving sentences so long they will die here.

"Though every inmate in ''The Farm'' shares the dream of freedom, the film explores what it means to be beyond fighting impossible odds and seeking sustenance wherever it can be found."

                                                 -  New York Times

 

 

 

 

Seventy-five inmates from Angola Prison and Louisiana Correctional Institution for Women, come together to perform the largest prison production of The Passion Play ever.

“The Louisiana Correctional Institute is located in the swamps of southern Louisiana in the small town of St. Gabriel. Built in 1970 to house an increasing population of female convicts, today it houses the state's most dangerous female prisoners and often

900 Women: Life in St. Gabriel's Womens Prison (2000)

The Angola Prison Rodeo

 

The Wildest Show in the South: 

The Angola Prison Rodeo

 

Shadows of Doubt:

State vs. 85188 Vincent Simmons

The Louisiana Correctional Institute is located in the swamps of southern Louisiana in the small town of St. Gabriel. Built in 1970 to house an increasing population of female convicts, today it houses the state's most dangerous female prisoners and often exceeds its population capacity of 900. 75% of these are mothers and one fourth of them are serving sentences of fifteen years or more. The prison compound has a surreal quality; there are no searchlight-capped towers or barbed wire fences. Filmmaker Khadivi delivers a striking, sensitive portrait of life in this deceptively peaceful atmosphere, which is filled with stories of life on the streets, abuse, freedom, childbirth and motherhood. Six women - a grandmother, a young high school student, a pregnant woman, a recovering heroin addict, a prison guard, and the only woman on death row - were brave enough to share their frustrations and hopes. 

October brings rodeo season to Angola State Penitentiary. Six thousand plus gather at the prison to watch the inmate Cowboys risk their lives in some of the most dangerous and bizarre rodeo events in the nation.

A story of rape and race in a small, rural Louisiana town, examines the case of one of the six prisoners from "The Farm" and his appeal to clear his name. Vincent Simmons was sentenced to 100 years for the rape of teenage twins and has never waivered from his original claim of innocence. The victims, Karen and Sharon Sanders, insist the right man has been convicted. stack returns to the southern parish, the scene of the crime, and the summary trial in search of truth and justice.

bottom of page