Genre
Synopsis
Six women walk back through the gates of the abandoned Holloway Prison, where they were once prisoners. In a 5-day group workshop set in the former chapel, the group begins to explore what the prison meant to them. This live, tense workshop process is interwoven with footage of them exploring the site’s abandoned corridors and cells. The workshop offers these six women the opportunity to delve deeply into their past and explore what led them to Holloway. But to start with, they don’t trust each other or the production team enough to open up. After things come to a head halfway through the process, hidden emotions come flowing out, as they tell their extraordinary stories of survival and recovery. Stories which, taken together, build an excoriating picture of multiple failed systems and the way in which the justice system criminalizes childhood trauma.
Bio
Sophie Compton is a British director, writer, and activist who tells women’s stories of injustice. As Artistic Director of Power Play, she has produced and directed six plays, including Fringe First-winning Funeral Flowers, taken on an Offie-nominated UK Tour (Bunker, BGAC). She has produced and directed work at Tate Modern, Science Museum, and V&A, and she is currently directing the feature documentary Holloway following ex-prisoners returning to the abandoned Holloway Prison (supported by Arts Council England). Sophie has led global activist campaigns that have led to changes to UK arts policy and Law Commission proposals for new legislation, and she has been invited to steering groups for international NGOs including the World Economic Forum. She trained in trauma-informed practice with Clean Break and draws on community activism to develop projects that empower women in process as well as output. She is an editor for climate magazine It’s Freezing in LA! Another Body is Sophie’s feature debut.
Credits
Director - Daisy-May Hudson
Editor - Stella Heath Keir
Producer - Alice Hughes
