''It's A Hard Truth Ain't It'' is a 2018 American

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

directed by

Madeleine Sackler Madeleine Sackler is an American filmmaker, heiress, and member of the Sackler family. She received an Emmy in 2015 and was nominated for a second one in 2020. Her grandfather, Raymond, was one of the three Sackler brothers who created and owned P ...

, Dennis Brown, Franklin Cox, Brandon Crider, Clifford Elswick, Joseph Henderson, Herb Robertson, Rushawn Tanksley, Marshaun Bugg, Al'jonon Coleman, James Collins, Quentis Hardiman, Charles Lawrence, and Mark Thacker. It is the first widely released film co-directed by people who are

incarcerated A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correcti ...

. In the film, 13 men incarcerated in the

Pendleton Correctional Facility The Pendleton Correctional Facility, formerly known as the Indiana Reformatory, is a state prison located in Fall Creek Township, Madison County, near Pendleton and about northeast of Indianapolis. Established in 1923, it was built to replace ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

study filmmaking with Sackler to tell their own stories. Sackler's fiction film, '' O.G.'', was in part inspired by the work done for this documentary; many of the co-directors in ''It's A Hard Truth Ain't It'' also appear in ''O.G.'' ''It's A Hard Truth Ain't It'' was nominated for 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 ...

in the Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary category. Animated portrayals of the men's memories were created by

Yoni Goodman Yoni Goodman ( he, יוני גודמן; born 1976) is an Israeli animator. Biography Goodman began his career as an illustrator and graphic designer, working for two of Israel's major newspapers, ''Maariv'' and ''Haaretz''. In 1998, he studied ...

. The film and ''O.G.'' were both acquired by

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

after premiering at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...

References

External links

* * 2018 films 2018 documentary films 2010s American films 2010s English-language films 2010s prison films Documentary films about incarceration in the United States Films directed by Madeleine Sackler Films shot in Indiana HBO documentary films {{2010s-documentary-film-stub