Film Screening -- The North Carolina premiere of:

O prisoneiro da grade de ferro (The Prisoner of the Iron Bars)
(Paulo Sacramento, 2004, 123 min, Brazil, Portuguese & Spanish w/ English Subtitles, Color, DVD)

-- Introduced by Aaron J. Lorenz, PhD, Post-Doctoral Associate of Luso-Brazilian Studies.  Q&A to follow!

In 2002, the greatest prison in Latin America, Complex Carandirú, was demolished. With a population of about 7,000 prisoners distributed in nine five-story pavilions, the prison became known worldwide after the infamous massacre of one hundred and eleven prisoners in 1992. A couple of months before its implosion, director Paulo Sacramento trained some inmates and together with his crew, they produced many hours of footage, showing the daily life in prison. Their internal rules, punishment, entertainment, weapons, death, drugs, booze, life conditions, food, sexual life, religion, creeds, families, hopes and dreams are exposed and disclosed along 123 minutes running time of documentary. It is a provocative rearticulation of collective notions of punishment in contemporary authoritarian democratic regimes. 

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-- Winner of the APCA Trophy for Most Promising Director at the 2005 São Paulo Association of Art Critics Awards and Recipient of the 2005 Cinema Brazil Grand Prize for Best Documentary.

Related Lecture:

"Between the Bars in Urban Brazil: Bandits & Workers/Police and Intellectuals"

A lecture by John French, Professor of History and African and African-American Studies

Wednesday, March 16th, 12:00–1:00pm
Rm 240, Franklin Center

Cost: Free and Open to the Public!

Sponsors: The Department of Romance Studies, the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, and the Program in the Arts of the Moving Image (AMI)