Tehachapi

In the heart of Tehachapi, California, amidst an eerie landscape in the middle of nowhere, the most unexpected and unforeseen space that could lend itself to the creation of an artwork emerges; one of the most impregnable high-security prisons in the USA. Photographer, street artist, and documentary filmmaker JR (who has blessed us alongside the unforgettable Agnès Varda with the delightful Visages Villages), having secured unprecedented access to the correctional facility, sets out on an art project that at first glance seems positively outrageous. Giving for the first time, both a voice and a platform to the inmates who have spent their most prolific years in a state of confinement, becoming addicted to a world of violence and brutality, JR bestows upon them the invaluable gift of self-respect through art’s therapeutic properties. Visible only from the sky and by its nature temporary, a photo collage in the courtyard transforms into an allegory of a primarily internal liberation. At the same time, stories of former and current prisoners and testimonies of their relatives intermingle with the process of creating the artwork, thus enabling a discussion on the philosophical and existential shades of concepts such as mistake, guilt, sin and forgiveness.

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Direction: JR

Cinematography: Roberto De Angelis, John Hunter Nolan, Tasha Van Zandt

Editing: Maxime Pozzi-Garcia, Sylvie Landra

Sound: Eyal Levy, Yves-Marie Omnes, David Chaulier, Antoine Baudouin, Lucile Demarquet, Thierry Delor

Music: Enfant Sauvage

Producers: Rosalie Varda, Marc Azoulay, Marco Berrebi

Co-producers: Nathanaël Karmitz, Elisha Karmitz

Executive producer: Sol Guy, Scott Budnick

Format: DCP

Color: Color

Production Country: France

Production Year: 2023

Duration: 92'

Contact: mk2 Films

JR

Filmography

2011 Women Are Heroes
2017 Chroniques De Clichy Montfermeil (co-direction)
2017 Visages Villages (co-direction)
2021 Paper & Glue (co-direction)
2023 Tehachapi