INSIDE, THE VALLEY SINGS
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Logline.
Trapped in the never-ending horror of prolonged solitary confinement, three prisoners seek comfort and escape in the boundless vistas of their own imaginations.
Synopsis.
Secluded in 6x9 cells year after year with little or no human contact, three individuals in prisons across the United States experience the tedium, loneliness and psychological despair of long-term solitary confinement.
Over time, they begin to construct elaborate fantasy worlds to escape their daily reality.
Through vivid, hand-drawn animation, ‘Inside, The Valley Sings’ tells their remarkable real-life stories and paints an unforgettable portrait of the power of the human imagination.
Funded by the Arts Council of Ireland / An Chomhairle Ealaíon
Director's Statement.
Right now, all across the United States, there’s a hidden world made up of 6x9 cells - where individuals are forced to endure near total isolation from anywhere from a few weeks to a few decades.
Cinema, for me, is an empathy machine. It allows us to step outside of our own perspective and to experience the world through someone else's eyes, even if only for a moment or two.
Right from the very beginning, my goal with this film was simple: to give a voice to this largely voiceless population. To give audiences a glimpse into life in this sunken, subterranean world.
I first began researching this project in the early months of 2020. Over the next two years, I conducted dozens of conversations with survivors of solitary confinement. Despite significant differences in many of their accounts, quite a number of these survivors told me something surprising: they explained that the border between reality and fantasy - between the inner world and the outer world - begins to shift during prolonged isolation.
That, in order to survive the harrowing reality of their daily existence, they began to construct elaborate, sensory-rich worlds in their own imaginations.
‘’These fantasies’’ - as our interview subject, Frank De Palma, explains in the film - ‘’were as real to me as your life is to you.’’
Although I’d seen other films about the horrors of solitary confinement, this was something I’d never seen explored before. I realised there was something deeply tragic - but also beautifully human - about this surprising revelation.
By exploring this unique perspective and phenomenon, my hope is that audiences will understand what survivors have been telling us for years: that solitary confinement is a form of torture, pure and simple. That, regardless of an individual's guilt or innocence, we all share a common humanity - we all possess our own individual hopes, dreams and desires for a better life.
And any justice system that claims to be grounded in the dignity and rights of the individual must recognise this.
- Nathan Fagan, Director
Credits.
Directed by Nathan Fagan
Producer: Seamus Waters
Animation Direction: Natasza Cetner
Production Company: Wonderbread
Original Score: Die Hexen
Sound Design: Die Hexen
Post-Production Audio: Sound Canvas
Funded by: The Arts Council of Ireland / An Chomhairle Ealaíon
Fiscal Sponsorship Provided by: International Documentary Association (IDA)
Rotoscoping Camera Operator: Kevin Minogue
Rotoscoping Models: Tony Doyle / Olwen Jennings / Aaron Katambay / Ellie-Mai Sutton
Blender Mentoring: Richard Noble
Special Thanks:
Karen Kaplan / Marianne Guimond / Jeff Lee
/ Solitary Watch / Peter Pringle / The Sunny Centre / Nick Roberts / Masatoshi Sato
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Biographies.
Kiana Calloway
After being wrongfully accused of murder at 16 years old, Kiana Calloway served 17 years in Louisiana State Penitentiary, at Angola. In total, he spent close to 9 years in solitary confinement, at various stages of his imprisonment.
During his time in solitary, Kiana experienced first-hand the despair of isolation: ‘’You are stuck in your cell with just the voices in your own head and the cries of men who have already gone mad.’’
Over time, he learned how to use his imagination and his own fantasy life to survive his environment.
Since his release, Kiana has become an advocate for the abolition of solitary confinement. Although he’s now a father of three, enrolled in
Loyola University of New Orleans Bachelor's studying criminology and is in stable employment, he still struggles with the consequences of his time in solitary confinement.
“Even today I wake up with cold sweats, having nightmares of screams, howling from the cells next to me. Or hearing a guy that’s mentally ill four cells down from me that’s beating and screaming and hollering for a security officer to come down there and give him some type of medical treatment, only to get beaten.”
Sunny Jacobs
At the age of 28, Sunny Jacobs was wrongly imprisoned and sentenced to death for the murder of two police officers in Florida. Nearly 17 years after her arrest, Sunny's conviction was overturned on appeal.
Sunny spent the first five years of her sentence living in complete isolation, on Florida’s Death Row. During this time, she was denied photos of her family members, was not allowed to communicate with the prison guards, and was only granted two books: the Bible and a law book.
When she was imprisoned, her two young children lived with her parents until they were killed in a plane crash, at which point the children were cast into the foster care system.
Over time, her vocal cords atrophied from lack of use and, in the first year, she experienced a wide range of psychological issues: depression, anxiety, anger, fear, and confusion.
She began to practice yoga, meditation and prayer, and to delve into her own inner energetic and imaginative world to pass the time.
Since her release, Sunny has become a renowned human rights activist championing the rights of the wrongly imprisoned and working for the abolishment of the death penalty worldwide. She runs the Sunny Center, in Ireland and the US, which works with wrongly accused exonerees to help them overcome the consequences of their wrongful incarceration.
Frank De Palma
Frank De Palma entered prison at 18 years of age on a non-violent charge, with an expectation of release in two years for good behavior. Instead, he faced the gladiator culture of the maximum-security Nevada State prison.
Forced to fight for his life, he incurred additional charges of battery, second-degree murder and attempted murder, tacking decades onto his original sentence.
Twenty-two of those years were spent in solitary confinement, where he developed acute agoraphobia and eventually psychosis as a result of the prolonged time in isolation. When light began to bother him, he covered up his one window with a towel. He lived in darkness as much as possible; only then did he feel safe.
As the years passed, he created his own fantasy world. He’d imagine shopping in a grocery store, tapping melons to see if they were ripe, meeting fictitious people—scenarios that sometimes led to imagined romantic relationships.
For his last five years in solitary, Frank fell into a semi-catatonic state, unresponsive to visitors, and any outside stimulation – simply a hand reaching for a food tray. During this time, he never once left his cell - not even to use the showers or to exercise in the yard.
He was released from prison in 2018 after serving a total of 42 years, 9 months, and 15 days.
Since his release, he has faced homelessness, mounting health problems and on-going psychological issues as a result of his time in isolation. Despite this, Frank is determined to speak out against solitary. In 2021, he testified before the Nevada Senate Judiciary in support of a bill that would abolish solitary confinement in Nevada’s prisons.
He has recently authored a book, in collaboration with award-winning author, Mary Buser, Never to Surrender! 22 Years in Solitary: The Battle for My Soul in a U.S. Prison.
You can find out more about his book here: https://www.nevertosurrender.com/
