This riveting film won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at SXSW earlier this year. Set entirely inside California’s Folsom State Prison (where Johnny Cash once famously performed), it follows three men on an intensive four-day retreat with inmates of the prison; an intimate and powerful portrait of the transformations possible with innovative group therapy.
Over the course of the retreat, the men take turns delving deep into their memories, crimes and most painful neuroses. The raw and revealing process that results exceeds expectations for both the convicts and the free men alike.
Offering audiences a rare look past the clichés of prison life and its dehumanising tropes in our culture, The Work reveals the potential for catharsis, change and meaningful rehabilitation for prisoners (and simply people) otherwise trapped inside the traumas of their past.