Program Note

The USA has one of the world’s highest crime rates. The biggest problem lies in the fact that prisons go hand in hand with profit-seeking businesses. Given this, how does black/gay/music (e.g. house music) culture function as a counter culture? Asking such an unfamiliar question, the film observes how different scenes unfold in two identical places. While inmates, activists and debaters are engaged in serious conversations, some people lose themselves in dynamic music. Outsiders including British filmmaker Phil Collins are likely to have negative preconceptions about the USA. In that respect, the film offers a fresh new perspective. It’s worth comparing it to Jennie Livingson’s Paris Is Burning (1990). We witness a minor culture that holds up society as a code of liberation and resistance. (LEE Yong-cheol)

Director

Phil Collins

Phil Collins creates works that engage closely with community and people's issues at the intersection of popular culture and politics. He has worked with young people worldwide, refugees, homeless people, media stars, former East German teachers, and inmates in American prisons. He is currently a professor at the Cologne Academy of Media Arts.