A groundbreaking film on Alabama’s prison system is a step closer to one of Hollywood’s highest honors. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences named “The Alabama Solution” as a nominee for Best Documentary. The film was shot with footage taken by inmates inside the state’s prisons. Director and producer Charlotte Kaufman says that the film can be applied to prisons all over the United States. APR student reporter Emily Ahearn spoke with the co-producers of the film, who also directed.
“While the film is about Alabama and about the prisons in Alabama, it's really about incarceration all across America, the only difference is that we were able to see inside Alabama's facilities,” she said.
The film makers say the footage provided from inside Alabama’s prison system showed conditions were much worse than they expected. The level of deaths, they said, looked like the result of negligence and a system that appeared to be in freefall. On the flipside of that issue, Director and Producer Andrew Jarecki said the film reveals problems inside the state’s prisons, but also the support inmates are getting from people on the outside…
“There was this incredibly warm, wonderful population of people who were humanitarians and cared about their neighbors and cared about their families and had really no idea what was happening in their own prison system, because a lot of that had just been kept secret from them”
"Sinners" is now the most nominated film in Academy Awards history.The vampire film racked up 16 Oscar nominations including nods for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor.Right behind "Sinners" is Paul Thomas Anderson's "One Battle After Another" with 13 nominations.Meanwhile, the blockbuster musical sequel "Wicked: For Good" was completely shutout after the first film was nominated for ten Oscars.
Jessie Buckley is nominated for Best Actress for her role in "Hamnet", while Rose Byrne was given the nod for "If I Had Legs I'd Kick You."The rest of the field includes Kate Hudson for "Song Sung Blue", Renate Reinsve for "Sentimental Value," and Emma Stone for "Bugonia."The field of nominees for Best Actor at the Academy Awards is loaded with major stars. Timothee Chalamet was nominated for "Marty Supreme", Leonardo DiCaprio got the nod for "One Battle After Another" and Ethan Hawke was nominated for "Blue Moon."Michael B. Jordan also received a nomination for "Sinners", while Wagner Mourawas nominated for "The Secret Agent."
