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UID:Indybay-18735264
SEQUENCE:18838924
CREATED:20130416T162400Z
DESCRIPTION:The new film, Herman's House will have its Bay Area debut at Oakland's 
 Merritt College, Building R, Student Lounge on April 24, 2013 at 12:00 
 PM.\n\nThe injustice of solitary confinement and the transformative power 
 of art are explored in Herman’s House, a feature documentary that follows 
 the unlikely friendship between a New York artist and one of America’s 
 most famous inmates as they collaborate on an acclaimed art project.\n\nIn 
 1972, New Orleans native Herman Joshua Wallace (b. 1941) was serving a 
 25-year sentence for bank robbery when he was accused of murdering an 
 Angola Prison guard and thrown into solitary confinement. Many believed him 
 wrongfully convicted. Appeals were made but Herman remained in jail 
 and—to increasingly widespread outrage—in solitary. Years passed with 
 one day much like the next. Then in 2001 Herman received a 
 perspectiveshifting letter from a Jackie Sumell, a young art student, who 
 posed the provocative question: “What kind of house does a man who has 
 lived in a six-foot-by-nine-foot cell for over 30 years dream 
 of?”\n\nThus began an inspired creative dialogue, unfolding over hundreds 
 of letters and phone calls and yielding a multi-faceted collaborative 
 project that includes the exhibition “The House That Herman Built.” The 
 revelatory art installation—featuring a full-scale wooden model of 
 Herman’s cell and detailed plans of his dream home—has brought 
 thousands of gallery visitors around the world face-to-face with the harsh 
 realities of the American prison system.\n\nBut as Herman’s House 
 reveals, the exhibition is just the first step.\n\nTheir journey takes a 
 more unpredictable turn when Herman asks Jackie to make his dream a 
 reality. As her own finances dwindle, Jackie begins to doubt if she can 
 meet the challenge of finding land and building a real house. Meanwhile, 
 Herman waits to find out if the Louisiana courts will hear his latest 
 appeal.\n\nAlong the way we meet self-confessed “stick-up kid” Michael 
 Musser, who credits Herman for helping him turn his life around while in 
 solitary; Herman’s sister Vickie, a loyal and tireless supporter despite 
 her own emotional burden; and former long-term solitary inmate and fellow 
 Black Panther activist Robert King who, along with Herman and Albert 
 Woodfox, was one of the so-called Angola 3 that became a cause celebre in 
 the 2000s.\n\n“I’m not a lawyer and I’m not rich and I’m not 
 powerful, but I’m an artist,” Jackie says.\n\n“And I knew the only 
 way I could get (Herman) out of prison was to get him to dream.” There 
 are 2.2 million people in jail in the U.S. More than 80,000 of those are in 
 solitary confinement. Herman Wallace has been there longer than 
 anyone.\n\nWith compassion and meaningful artistry, Herman’s House takes 
 us inside the lives and imaginations of two unforgettable 
 characters–forging a friendship and building a dream in the struggle to 
 end the “cruel and unusual punishment” of long-term solitary 
 confinement.\n https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/04/16/18735264.php
SUMMARY:New film about Herman Wallace of the Angola 3 screening at Merritt College
LOCATION:Oakland's Merritt College, Building R, Student Lounge
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/04/16/18735264.php
DTSTART:20130424T190000Z
DTEND:20130424T210000Z
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