Prison film fest brings healing to US jailhouse

Held inside a notorious prison among some of California's most dangerous felons, the San Quentin Film Festival is not your typical Hollywood affair.

Red-carpet interviews take place just yards away from a now dormant execution chamber where hundreds of death-row inmates met grisly ends. Convicted murderers sit alongside famous actors and journalists, applauding films made by their fellow inmates.

Among them is Ryan Pagan, serving 77 years for first-degree murder. "I always wanted to be an actor—but unfortunately that's not the life I ended up living," explains Pagan, prison tattoos peeking out from the short sleeves of his jailhouse-issue blue shirt.

His film 'The Maple Leaf', made behind bars, is competing for best narrative short film—a category only for currently or formerly incarcerated filmmakers. Pagan, 37, was a teen when he committed his crime, and hopes his new skills directing movies could one day offer "a pipeline to Hollywood, to employment."

Though it did not win, the movie—about a self-help group in which prisoners tackle guilt and shame—won high praise from a jury including director Celine Song ('Past Lives') and actor Jesse Williams ('Grey's Anatomy'.) "Right now, I'm just doing the work and rehabilitating myself. Part of the story of 'The Maple Leaf' is about guys like me," he says.

'Healing' -

The oldest prison in California, San Quentin was for decades a maximum-security facility that hosted the nation's biggest death row—and a famous concert by Johnny Cash in 1969. It has become a flagship for California penal reform, and no longer carries out executions. Rehabilitation programmes include a media centre where prisoners produce a newspaper, podcasts and films. The projects are intended to provide employable skills to inmates.

The festival, launched last year, offers inmates a chance to meet mainstream filmmakers from the outside. Founder Cori Thomas, a playwright and screenwriter, had volunteered at the prison for years, and wanted a way to show her Hollywood peers the "exceptional work" being made in San Quentin.