‘Attica’ Filmmaker and Former Inmate on Prison Riot 50th Anniversary – The Hollywood Reporter

The Attica Jail Riot of 1971 was the bloodiest jail revolt in U.S. historical past. Prisoners demanding higher residing circumstances took management of the advanced, and after 4 days of negotiations, state police regained management of the jail, leading to 43 individuals lifeless — 33 of them prisoners, whereas the opposite 10 have been correctional officers or civilian staff. Filmmakers Stanley Nelson and Traci Curry’s documentary Attica depicts the violent revolt and sheds mild on the way it sparked the prisoners’ rights motion and the necessity for ongoing reform in U.S. prisons. Nelson and former Attica inmate Arthur Harrison, who seems within the movie, spoke to THR concerning the strategy of getting Attica made and why 2021 — 50 years after the riot — was the fitting yr to launch the documentary.

What made you wish to make a documentary concerning the Attica Jail Riot?

STANLEY NELSON I had wished to do a documentary about Attica for a very long time. I used to be about 20 years previous when it occurred, and I keep in mind it as so many individuals do. I simply thought it was one of many foundational occasions in my life, and in so many individuals’s lives, and I felt that the story had by no means actually been advised. I by no means knew why the inmates rebelled. It was by no means actually as clear as we make it within the movie why [Gov. Nelson] Rockefeller thought it essential to enter the jail and take it over with such violence. There was no inciting incident for the takeover. … I had no concept that the quantity of footage that we discovered existed, and I figured that there have been about 1,000 individuals on the market within the yard, so a very good variety of them ought to nonetheless be alive. And by permitting the area for these individuals to inform their story, we’d get a extremely devastating documentary.

How did you join with Arthur and the opposite former inmates featured within the documentary?

NELSON Traci Curry, the co-director and producer, actually did the analysis to search out individuals. We began working with Heather Thompson, who wrote the guide Blood within the Water and received a Pulitzer Prize for it, so she was in a position to assist us join with individuals. We employed [consultant] Judy Clark, who’s a prisoners’ rights advocate. She has unbelievable credibility on the earth of previously incarcerated individuals — she spent 38 years in jail [for felony murder, for her involvement in a 1981 Brink’s robbery]. She additionally is aware of lots of people throughout the jail rights group, and so she began speaking to individuals. After which Traci went again by way of so many paper data that had been [kept] during the last 50 years. … If we discovered one individual, we requested them, “Who else ought to we discuss to?” We bought the ball rolling and ended up with an unimaginable group of individuals within the movie.

Arthur, did you might have any trepidation about participating within the documentary?

ARTHUR HARRISON I didn’t suppose something was going to ever occur. And it was painful as a result of I knew what I went by way of [during the Attica riot] was an unreal and a painful occasion. For different human beings to deal with human beings the best way these individuals handled us, simply because we have been prisoners. … And the retaking of the jail that day, to see human beings deal with human beings so inhumanely — I couldn’t imagine that. I assumed I used to be a troublesome avenue child, and I assumed I’d seen a number of the worst issues that would occur to a different human being till I noticed Attica. We weren’t there to begin extra bother. We have been there paying the penalty for making errors and stuff.

Stanley, you stated you have been shocked to see how a lot footage there really was. What was it wish to get that entry?

NELSON We knew that there was some footage, however as we began, the [network] footage began to roll in. We simply stated, “OK, we would like every part.” We saved continuously pushing for like a yr and a half. Additionally, the entire movie was made within the time of COVID. A number of the [smaller] archives had shut down. Most likely the entire thing took two to a few years as a result of we first bought a bit cash to do a sizzle reel. We did two or three interviews and reduce some footage collectively. After which we took that out and went to Showtime, they usually purchased it. Then we had the manufacturing price range, after which perhaps a yr and a half, two years in, we began manufacturing of the primary movie.

For each of you — Arthur as the topic and Stanley because the filmmaker — what was probably the most troublesome half for you throughout this?

HARRISON It was like going again in that unhealthy dream once more that may by no means go away. I’m hoping to simply be a part of the closure a part of it. … I get type of upset at instances as a result of what I noticed at 22 years previous, I don’t suppose there’s too many 22-year-olds, except you’re going to a warfare zone someplace, seeing what I noticed. And as soon as once more, what sort of human being will try this to a different human being? We didn’t have any weapons to shoot again with. They stated there have been over 3,500 rounds shot inside a 10- or 15-minute time [period], in order that tells you what they have been doing. And I’ve seen President [Nixon] and Mr. Rockefeller speaking on the cellphone, after which the president advised Rockefeller, “Aren’t most of these guys Black guys?” He’s the president of america, telling the governor of one of many largest states to “go in there and take the jail again, present them the ability that we now have and that we’re in management.” That simply jogged my memory of slavery another time — as a result of prisons are plantations.

NELSON We had a lot unimaginable materials, and the prisoners and the hostages’ households and observer committee have been all so highly effective. To chop it down to 2 hours and to maintain it on monitor in order that it had the momentum and drive that we wished … I believe that was actually the toughest half for us placing it collectively. We knew from the start that we didn’t wish to have narration — we may simply hear the voices of the individuals who lived it. To start with, we have been going to movie historians as a part of it, and we really [interviewed one] and we reduce him in to a really, very tough reduce. And it simply appeared like he was coming from one other world: He was speaking about what he had learn, and other people like Arthur have been speaking about what they noticed and heard and felt and smelled. And so we determined not solely to make the movie with out narration however with out historians.

HARRISON The scent and the style, you understand, we’re out within the yard for 4 days, and we constructed this terrain; once you needed to go to the lavatory, that is the place you probably did it. Now, when the jail was taken [back], each prisoner that was taken out of D-Block yard was compelled to crawl by way of human waste earlier than you might get to the opposite facet. So as soon as once more, what sort of human being does one other human being like that, figuring out what you’re on the brink of make this individual do? We assumed that negotiations have been going OK, so every part was going to work out for everyone, after which unexpectedly it changed into nobody giving a rattling and everyone was indignant on the guys who simply complained as a result of they couldn’t get their fundamental wants inside jail. It was one thing that I by no means imagine I’d have seen, not right here in america of America. But it surely occurred. I’m so grateful to [Stanley] Nelson for having the center and the balls to inform the reality about what occurred as a result of our facet would’ve by no means been advised, and that’s why I don’t thoughts speaking once I do discuss as a result of there’s lots of brothers who will not be right here now to symbolize them.

Why do you suppose now is an effective time to launch the movie, 50 years after the riot?

NELSON In 50 years, some issues have modified superficially. There are academic packages, there’s some issues in jail that weren’t there, however you might have 2 million individuals in jail. The jail inhabitants has simply exploded. Has it gotten higher in little cases? Yeah. However that’s all taken away by the truth that there’s so many extra people who find themselves in jail. All in all, I believe the jail system has gotten worse. I believe it’s vital that we have a look at that as a result of proper now, [New York’s] Rikers Island is exploding, and there’s headlines day after day about that. Prisons are made in order that we put individuals [away] to overlook about [them]. And if that’s the rationale, they’re very profitable in doing it.

HARRISON Jail shouldn’t be a spot for younger guys who wish to exit to show their manhood as a result of there’s been so many people for therefore lengthy who purchased into that lie — to turn out to be a revered Black man, you bought to do some jail time as a substitute of going to varsity. I’m a man who did most of my adolescent years in these juvenile houses. I do know it’s not the best way, so I’m talking for the love of my kids’s kids and my associates’ children that hear: Jail shouldn’t be a ceremony of passage.

Interview edited for size and readability.

This story first appeared in a November stand-alone subject of The Hollywood Reporter journal. To obtain the journal, click on right here to subscribe.