Letters From Prison

Interesting, hope your life is better now

Grazvidas was released in September 2009 and he is back in Lithuania. He has spent some time with his family (including a 5 year old son). He saw the whole experience in jail as a sign that he should change his life in other direction. He hasnt got job yet, what makes him a bit unquite and worried. Felipe, after trying to escape from category 'D' prison on his first day out, was re captured by the police in the same night and served for more 3 months. He was released right before xmas and he is in Sao Paulo right now with his family. Brithish autorities together with Brazilian autorities cleaned out his bank account in Brazil and took posession of his flat. You can contact Felipe and Grazvidas on facebook for a chat:Felipe Price - Sao Paulo/Brazil and Gee Rudi - Lithuania. Best fo luck for both of them!

You can contact Felipe and Grazvidas on facebook for a chat:

Felipe Price - Sao Paulo/Brazil
and
Gee Rudi - Lithuania

This film is not a prison tutorial.

Experience is not transferable. We discover the secrets we have inside every time we are exposed to a new situation for us.

You made an attempt to share Felipe's and Grazvidas' secrets - their real feelings.

Seven minutes of simple, yet powerful story. Very good visual narration. You've done a very good job!

Thank you for the film.
Congratulations.

Hi Edson, I really enjoyed the film and feel that some of the critisism is very misplaced. I am assuming that the film was not intended to give a reflection on prison life in the UK and certainly not intended as a comparative piece about the US v UK prison regimes. Therefore the critisism seems invalid as you cant fail to deliver against a brief you didn't have.

The value in the film was the way it showed the two young men had very different experiences. One finding a purpose in prison and the other trying to commit suicide, Two very different reactons.

Also given the lack of access to the inside of prisons that is only granted to the likes of the BBC and established production companies I felt that I did learn a littlemore about prison life from the film so well done fo giving me more of an insight into life inside prison.

Well done and all the best to the two young men.

i really like this film. Bravo Edson!

To ngtni after viewing it again I feel I was a little bit harsh but I still don't see what was so great about this short film. As for this being realistic trust me it's not. How can I say this because I know I was in jail in N.Y. and from what I saw in this film Riker's seems alot worse than jails in London. U r so naive it can't be unrealistic b/c this is a "real" story how do u know it's real ? B/c someone tells u it is? People can say,do, or pretend to do anything. Also it was boring I didn't really learn anything from it, nothing exciting or interesting happened. As for ur perception about criminals most of the people in jail r there for non-violent bull shit offenses. Also alot of kooks and mentally ill. I mean there r so many other interesting things about jail that he cld have touched on like the commisary system and how cigarettes r like money and when the cigs were no longer allowed food took its place as money. To the one that said she's happy to be in America r u for real the jails in the USA r much worse than in Europe. And as bad as jail is what's really bad is when a homeless woman wanted to get arrested so she wld have somewhere warm to sleep and not have to worry about where her next mael wld come from. I met several women in jail who told me when the winter comes they try to get arrested b/c it's better than being homeless outside in the winter in N.Y.

If you can spend some time and write the boys a letter, they would be delighted:

Felipe Trippichio
VR 8013
Gnysmarsh
Shaftesbury
Dorset
SP70AH

Grazvidas Rudaitis
TD9440
Kent Wing
HMP Maidstone
Kent
ME14 1UZ

I tried to keep as loyal as I could to my pitch. And i think that the sadness of the film has got more to do with my feelings for having my friends locked up than to how they behave themselves in prison.

Wow. It really sucks to be punished for committing crimes.

marisa, I disagree. You say it is "unrealistic" - how can that be? This is a real story. And, it was NOT a documentary about being in prison. It was about the people and how they coped with crisis.

Edson, this is very moving.... you did a great job at capturing the emotion behind the story. For me, it made me rethink my perceptions of criminals and prison. Your friends' words are full of remorse and also fear, but also they are full of hope and dreams for the future... the video is effective at highlighting the feelings and gives a deep understanding of these two people.

I guess with the subject material, there were many different angles you could have taken in a short video, and many different stories you could have told, e.g. the facts, the process, the life afterwards, the affect on the families et cetera, but you chose a very humanizing angle and it makes an incredibly interesting story.

I think this was boring, unrealistic, oversentimental basically it sucked! It was a doc about being in prison that was obviously made by someone who has never been in prison. In N.Y. at least if a guy or even a girl acted like a crybaby pussy like these guys they'd get all their commisary stolen and their ass kicked like every week. Especially being white at Rikers. I know unlike the one who made this I was there. This was unrealistic and pointless. I mean there was really no point to this doc it didn't really show or tell anything about what it's like.

nice video, i wonder what his life would be like if hemp was legal

really love this! well done and congrats on keeping true to your pitch, I was eager to see the final output....Sheffield seems a long time ago now.

Knowing you for so many years, Edson, you have certainly grown to be professional with your work. Your clip is educational and captures the viewer's interest while taking a sobering view at an often glamourized lifestyle.
I have shown the clip to friends in Australia, including TV pros who agree with my layman's view.

All the best, Paul, Sydney.

London, London, London ...

Whoa...That was amazing...People stress the little things in the U.S but in reality..That very minute that we are stressed over how slow our internet is another human being is stressing about the smell of death in prison...
Thank you for showing people the bigger picutre..R:09

This is interesting because you are humbly allowed into someone's life and the experiences of others around them. The story is not measured as good or bad, but simply real.
The narration allows you to feel the emotions of the reader and writers of the letters.

I am personally blessed to continue to bear witness to the progress of this promising film maker.

A friend from Harlem, New York

That was moving Edson, well done (that's why I've up'd this pod)