''Herman's House'' is a documentary film, directed by Angad Singh Bhalla and released in 2012. An American, British and Canadian coproduction, the film profiles Herman Wallace, a member of the

Angola Three The Angola Three are three African-American former prison inmates (Robert Hillary King, Albert Woodfox, and Herman Wallace) who were held for decades in solitary confinement while imprisoned at Louisiana State Penitentiary (also known as Angol ...

who had been in prison for over 40 years after his shorter prison term for bank robbery was extended with a disputed conviction for a murder he did not commit, and

Jackie Sumell Jackie Sumell (born 1973) is an American multidisciplinary artist and activist whose work interrogates the abuses of the American criminal justice system. She is best known for her collaborative project with the late Herman Wallace, one of the fo ...

, a conceptual artist who has launched a project of building the dream house Wallace wishes he could live in if he is ever released from prison.Kevin Ritchie
"Hot Docs 2012: Reimagining the prison flick with Herman’s House"
'' Playback'', May 3, 2012. Wallace is never shown in the film, and instead is heard only in recorded telephone conversations with Sumell.

Distribution

The film premiered at the 2012

True/False Film Festival True/False Film Fest is an annual documentary film festival that takes place in Columbia, Missouri. The Fest occurs on the first weekend in March (sometimes beginning in late February), with films being shown from Thursday evening to Sunday nig ...

, and had its Canadian premiere at the 2012

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and June ...

. It was broadcast in July 2013 as an episode of the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

documentary series '' POV''.

Awards

Bhalla was the winner of the Magnus Isacsson Award at the 2012

Montreal International Documentary Festival The Montreal International Documentary Festival (french: Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montreal) is a Canadian documentary film festival, staged annually in Montreal, Quebec. In English, the festival now goes by the name Montreal I ...

. The film was a

Donald Brittain Award The Donald Brittain Award is a Canadian television award, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to honour the year's best television documentary on a social or political topic. Formerly presented as part of the Gemini Awards, s ...

nominee for best social or political documentary at the

2nd Canadian Screen Awards The 2nd Canadian Screen Awards were held on March 9, 2014, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2013.Ken Myhr Ken Myhr is a Canadian musician and composer. He is most noted for his work on the film '' The Accountant of Auschwitz'', for which he won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Music in a Non-Fiction Program or Series at the 8th Canadian Screen Awards ...

received a nomination for Best Music for a Non-Fiction Program or Series. The film won an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for Outstanding Arts and Culture Programming at the 2014

News and Documentary Emmy Awards The News & Documentary Emmy Awards, or News & Documentary Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sci ...

Legacy

Following Wallace's death of cancer in late 2013, Bhalla and digital media producer Ted Biggs created the interactive documentary project ''The Deeper They Bury Me: A Call from Herman Wallace'', which was based around Wallace's time in

solitary confinement Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which the inmate lives in a single cell with little or no meaningful contact with other people. A prison may enforce stricter measures to control contraband on a solitary prisoner and use additi ...

, for the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

.Lauren Wissot
"An Interactive Journey Through Solitary Confinement: 'The Deeper They Bury Me: A Call from Herman Wallace'"
''Global Comment'', October 23, 2015.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, qid=Q122931612 2012 films 2012 documentary films American documentary films American prison films British documentary films British prison films Canadian documentary films Canadian prison films Documentary films about incarceration in the United States 2010s American films 2010s British films 2010s Canadian films POV (TV series) films