''Doing Time, Doing Vipassana'' is a 1997 Israeli

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

project by two women filmmakers from

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Ayelet Menahemi Ayelet Menahemi ( he, איילת מנחמי; born 1963) is an Israeli film director, producer, writer, editor, and actress. Life and Works Menahemi was born in Tel Aviv in 1963. She attended Beit Zvi School of Stage and Cinematic Arts, graduati ...

and

Eilona Ariel Eilona (Elona) Ariel ( Hebrew: אילונה אריאל; born 1958) is a documentary filmmaker. Early life Ariel was born in 1958 in Israel as Eilona Frenkel. Career In 1978 she moved to New York City and spent nine years studying and workin ...

. The film is about the application of the

vipassana ''Samatha'' ( Pāli; sa, शमथ ''śamatha''; ), "calm," "serenity," "tranquillity of awareness," and ''vipassanā'' ( Pāli; Sanskrit ''vipaśyanā''), literally "special, super (''vi-''), seeing (''-passanā'')", are two qualities of t ...

meditation technique taught by S. N. Goenka to prisoner rehabilitation at

Tihar Jail Tihar Prisons, also called Tihar Jail and Tihar Ashram, is a prison complex in India and the largest complex of prisons in South Asia. Run by Department of Delhi Prisons, Government of Delhi, the prison contains nine central prisons, and is one ...

in India (which was reputed to be an exceptionally harsh prison). The film inspired other correctional facilities such as the North Rehabilitation Facility in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

to use Vipassana as a means of rehabilitation.

Kiran Bedi Kiran Bedi (born 9 June 1949) is an Indian social activist, former-tennis player who became the first woman in India to join the officer ranks of the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1972 and was the 24th Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry from ...

, former Inspector General of Prisons for

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the NCT Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati B ...

, appears in the film.

Reception

''Doing Time, Doing Vipassana'' received an average score of 64 based on eight critics at

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

. It received a 71% rating based on 14 reviews at

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. The ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The pap ...

'' wrote of the film winning the Golden Spire Award at the

San Francisco International Film Festival The San Francisco International Film Festival (abbreviated as SFIFF), organized by the San Francisco Film Society, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in in ...

when noting its 2005 theatrical release. They praised the film, writing it had "distinct virtues: It tells a fascinating story. It makes a strong case for an alternative approach to incarcerated criminals. And it provides an attractive introduction to Vipassana meditation." ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New Yo ...

'' gave the film two out of five stars, and generally panned the film, stating that the directors "fail to really get inside the heads of their subjects and to seriously convey the extent to which violence plays a role in their daily lives, choosing instead to follow the process with which Vipassana comes to the prison community and holds its prisoners in rapture." They felt the film's repeated use of "hyperbolic narration....strains to summon a sense of spiritual gravitas" and that the filmmakers brevity and informational tone made the film "something akin to an

Epcot Center Epcot, stylized in all uppercase as EPCOT, is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division. Inspired by an unreal ...

attraction."

Awards and nominations

* 1998, winner of 'Golden Spire Award' at the

* 1998, winner of NCCD Pass Award from the American National Council on Crime and Delinquency * 2000, winner of 'Gold Illumination Award' at Crested Butte Film Festival * 2000, winner of 'Silver Award' for best documentary at Crested Butte Reel Fest

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title Israeli documentary films 1997 films Documentary films about psychology Films shot in Delhi Documentary films about the penal system Documentary films about India Penal system in India Prison religion 1997 documentary films 1990s English-language films

Reception

Awards and nominations

See also

References

External links