'The Alabama Solution' Courtesy of HBO Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment For filmmaker Andrew Jarecki, who is best known for his Oscar-winning documentary Capturing the Friedmans and Emmy-winning docuseries The Jinx, a 2019 family trip to Montgomery, Alabama, unexpectedly led to his latest documentary, which he co-directed with Charlotte Kaufman: The Alabama Solution, a portrait of the horrific conditions in and corrupt governance of Alabama's prisons, which is now streaming on HBO Max and was nominated on Tuesday for the best documentary feature Producers Guild Award. During a Q&A (which you can watch below) at the recent SCAD Savannah Film Festival (where The Alabama Solution film was featured on the fest's annual Docs to Watch panel), Jarecki said that while in Alabama, he met with a chaplain who did volunteer work at a state prison and told him about revival meetings that were held in prison yards. Jarecki asked if he and Kaufman could film one and received permission to do so. It was while they were on the grounds that prisoners began pulling them aside to tell them about things that they were not being shown. Related Stories Movies 'Natchez' Documentarian on the Ghosts of the Civil War That Continue to Haunt the American South Movies 'Beam Me Up, Sulu' 'Star Trek' Doc Featuring George Takei Gets February Release (Exclusive) Charlotte Kaufman and Andrew Jarecki Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for SCAD After they left that day, Jarecki and Kaufman received further outreach from some of the incarcerated men who were also activists from within the prison system. Using contraband phones, those men were able to document some of the horrors of their lives behind bars and to share them with the filmmakers. Thus began the journey that led to The Alabama Solution, which also highlights the forced labor of prisoners and, most troublingly, provides considerable evidence that an Alabama prison guard murdered an inmate and then, with the assistance of colleagues, covered up the crime. During the Q&A, the filmmakers emphasized that Alabama is not the only state in America with terrible things happening within its prisons and said that they hope that shining a light on the Alabama prison system will lead to much-needed reforms there and elsewhere. THR Newsletters Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day Subscribe Sign Up Movie Premieres Albert Brooks Laments How Comedy Has Been "Relegated to Streaming": "It's Always Been Treated Second Class" The Hunger Games Josh Hutcherson Recalls Feeling "Failure" and "Rejection" in Post-'Hunger Games' Career Sissy Spacek Hollywood Flashback: Sissy Spacek Struck Oscar Gold With 'Coal Miner's Daughter' Suzannah Herbert 'Natchez' Documentarian on the Ghosts of the Civil War That Continue to Haunt the American South rose byrne Rose Byrne to Receive Breakthrough Performance Award at Palm Springs International Film Festival (Exclusive) F1 How 'F1: The Movie' Was Filmed at Real Grand Prixs, With Brad Pitt and Damson Idris Driving 180 MPH Movie Premieres Albert Brooks Laments How Comedy Has Been "Relegated to Streaming": "It's Always Been Treated Second Class" The Hunger Games Josh Hutcherson Recalls Feeling "Failure" and "Rejection" in Post-'Hunger Games' Career Sissy Spacek Hollywood Flashback: Sissy Spacek Struck Oscar Gold With 'Coal Miner's Daughter' Suzannah Herbert 'Natchez' Documentarian on the Ghosts of the Civil War That Continue to Haunt the American South rose byrne Rose Byrne to Receive Breakthrough Performance Award at Palm Springs International Film Festival (Exclusive) F1 How 'F1: The Movie' Was Filmed at Real Grand Prixs, With Brad Pitt and Damson Idris Driving 180 MPH