Blank Panther activist Herman Wallace was in solitary confinement for over 40 years, spending most of his day in a 6-by-9-foot cell. His isolation caught the attention of Brooklyn-based artist Jackie Sumell, and their 12-year friendship was chronicled in the Emmy-winning documentary Herman’s House (POV 2013). Together they collaborated on an art project that reimagined Wallace’s imprisonment, deeply critical of the prison industrial complex.
Herman Wallace passed away on October 4, 2013, three days after being released from the Louisiana State Penitentiary. What were those decades in solitary like for him? The new interactive documentary The Deeper They Bury Me immerses viewers into Wallace’s world for 20 minutes—the amount of time a prison phone call is allotted. The Deeper They Bury Me is written and directed by Angad Bhalla (the filmmaker behind Herman’s House) and Ted Biggs for the National Film Board of Canada.
The interactive documentary premieres at the 53rd New York Film Festival, in partnership with actor/activist Harry Belafonte’s social justice organization Sankofa on September 27, 2015. Experience it online »
To celebrate the release of The Deeper They Bury Me, POV is streaming the documentary Herman’s House, directed by Angad Singh Bhalla, from September 27, 2015 to October 26, 2015. Watch now »
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