Simone's Farm: Angola, Usa, And Her Legacy

Liz Garbus is an American producer and director, known for her documentaries What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015) and The Farm: Angola, USA (1998). The latter is an award-winning documentary set in the Louisiana State Penitentiary, one of the largest maximum-security prisons in the US. The film follows the lives of seven inmates, including a life prisoner who had been editor of the prison magazine, The Angolite, since 1975. It was filmed during the tenure of Warden Burl Cain, who is credited with reducing violence and establishing rehabilitation programs. The documentary was nominated for an Academy Award and won several accolades, including the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize and the Emmy Award.

Liz Garbus, the director of both documentaries, was born in the USA in 1970

Liz Garbus, the director of both documentaries, was born in the USA on 11 April 1970. She is a producer and director, known for her work on documentaries such as What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015), The Farm: Angola, USA (1998), and Becoming Cousteau (2021). She has also directed narrative films, including Lost Girls (2020) and the Season 4 finale of The Handmaid's Tale (2021).

Garbus grew up in New York City and graduated magna cum laude from Brown University in 1992 with a major in history and semiotics. She is the daughter of civil rights attorney Martin Garbus and writer, therapist, and social worker Ruth Meitin Garbus. Garbus co-founded the independent documentary production company Moxie Firecracker Films in 1998 and has since co-founded two further production companies, Story Syndicate and Firecracker.

Garbus has received numerous accolades for her work, including two Oscar nominations, two Emmy wins, a Peabody Award, a Grammy nomination, a DGA nomination, and a BAFTA nomination. Her documentaries have been featured in film festivals from Sundance to Toronto and have appeared in theatres and on streaming platforms. She is known for her socially incisive storytelling across genres, with a particular focus on documentary work.

'What Happened, Miss Simone?' was released in 2015 and earned an Oscar nomination

The 2015 documentary 'What Happened, Miss Simone?' earned an Oscar nomination and won an Emmy for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special. The film is a portrait of the life of legendary singer and activist Nina Simone, who has been labelled the "High Priestess of Soul".

The documentary was created by New Yorker Liz Garbus, who founded Moxie Firecracker Films with partner Rory Kennedy in 1998. Garbus has spoken about the challenges of making the film, including the need to gain permission from the fractured Simone family estate and the difficulty in tracking down archival footage. She also emphasised the importance of finding a new way to tell the story, using reenactments to create exciting visual storytelling.

The film features never-before-heard recordings and rare archival footage of Nina Simone, including concert footage shot by an NYU student in 1968. It also includes interviews with Simone herself, as well as her closest friends and family. The film details Simone's rise to fame in the jazz world in the 1950s, her struggles with personal demons and domestic issues, and her role as a civil rights activist. It places her amidst historical figures like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Stokely Carmichael.

'What Happened, Miss Simone?' has been praised for its ability to tell Simone's story in an accessible and engrossing way, providing a personal look at the legendary musician and activist.

'The Farm: Angola, USA' was released in 1998 and won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary

The Farm: Angola, USA is a documentary film that was released in 1998. It was directed and produced by Jonathan Stack and Liz Garbus, with Wilbert Rideau also participating in the direction. The film is set in the Louisiana State Penitentiary, the largest maximum-security prison in the United States, also known as Angola. The film follows the lives of seven prison inmates, including Rideau, who tell their own stories of life, death, and survival in a world that few manage to leave. It was filmed during the early years of Warden Burl Cain's tenure, who is credited with reducing violence and establishing rehabilitation programs.

The Farm: Angola, USA has received numerous accolades and awards. In addition to its Sundance Grand Jury Prize, it was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. It won both the New York and Los Angeles Film Critics awards for Best Documentary of 1998. The film also received Emmy Awards after airing on A&E. Other notable awards include the Doubletake Documentary Film Festival Audience Award, the Florida Film Festival Grand Jury Prize, and the San Francisco Film Festival Golden Gate Award.

Liz Garbus, the film's director and producer, is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. She has worked on various notable projects, including Bobby Fischer Against the World, which opened the documentary section of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Garbus has also collaborated with partner Rory Kennedy and director Rosie Perez on different films. Wilbert Rideau, the best-known inmate at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, is now a respected journalist. Despite his initial death sentence, Rideau became a prominent figure in prison journalism, winning several awards for his contributions to public understanding of the criminal justice system.

Angola Prison in Louisiana is the largest maximum-security prison in the US

The Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as Angola, is the largest maximum-security prison in the United States. Located in West Feliciana Parish, the prison is situated between oxbow lakes on the east side of a bend in the Mississippi River and is therefore surrounded by water on three sides. It is the country's only maximum-security prison farm and is nicknamed the "Alcatraz of the South".

The prison sits on 28 square miles of land that was once the Angola Plantations, a slave plantation owned by slave trader Isaac Franklin before the American Civil War. The plantation was named after the country of Angola, from which many enslaved people came before arriving in Louisiana. The prison gets its name from this.

Angola is home to 6,300 prisoners and 1,800 staff, including corrections officers, janitors, maintenance workers, and wardens. It is known for its harsh conditions and has been called "the worst prison in America" and "as close to slavery as any person could come in 1930". The prison has a long history of violence, brutality, riots, escapes, and murder.

Efforts to reform and improve conditions at Angola have been ongoing. In 1975, a US district judge declared a state of emergency at the prison, and Ross Maggio was installed as the new warden. Maggio was nicknamed "the gangster" by prisoners because of his strict adherence to the rules, and he is credited with improving conditions. Another warden, Burl Cain, who served from 1995 to 2016, was also known for making improvements and lowering the prison violence rate.

The prison offers various programs and services to support the rehabilitation of inmates, including educational programs, vocational training, religious programs, and mental health interventions. Angola is also known for its inmate-run newsmagazine, "The Angolite", and its prison rodeo, which attracts thousands of visitors to the complex twice a year.

The documentary features interviews with several inmates, including one with a life sentence who is about to die

The documentary "The Farm: Angola, USA" offers a glimpse into the harsh reality of life inside the Angola Prison, one of America's most feared prisons. The film, directed and produced by Jonathan Stack and Liz Garbus, follows the lives of seven inmates, including Wilbert Rideau, a life prisoner who participated in the direction of the film.

One of the most striking aspects of the documentary is its intimate portrayal of the inmates' daily struggles, including interviews with several prisoners serving life sentences. Among them is a man with a life sentence who is facing death, providing a sobering perspective on the impact of long-term incarceration.

The film does not shy away from exploring the complexities and humanity of the inmates. It captures their personal stories of life, death, and survival within the prison walls, presenting a world that few ever leave. The inmates share their experiences, with some claiming innocence and others admitting to their crimes.

The documentary also provides insight into the prison's orientation process and the controversial use of religion within the facility. It delves into the impact of solitary confinement, highlighting the harsh reality of inmates spending 23 hours a day in isolation.

"The Farm: Angola, USA" offers a rare glimpse into the town that exists within the prison walls, including housing for families and children, and even a baseball field. It is a world within a world, a self-sustaining community with its own complexities and challenges.

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