|
“One man. Two worlds. Three prisons.
Then. Now. Ancient. Modern.
Julius Caesar’s struggle against all odds
to become -- Caesar.”
The synopsis.
StringCaesar is a feature film that tells the timeless story of an adolescence shaped by social and political events. It charts a young man’s impassioned quest for power, for the meaning of freedom and to know himself, to live his dreams, to achieve his ambitions. The film explores his struggle to survive by becoming a power broker, a manipulator and then a dictator --the genesis of a powerful man, with roots in politics, violence, and gang warfare.
Our story plays out within the confines of some of the world’s most dire prisons with acclaimed actors working alongside young men and women, some serving life without parole, imprisoned for drugs, violence, and murder. The prisons are a microcosm of the real world where drugs, sexual liaisons, gangs, deals, allegiances, fear, anger and fleeting happiness are the order of the day.
This is the world where young Caesar fights for survival. This is Rome. A Prison.
Set in Pollsmoor Prison (Cape Town, South Africa), Cardiff Prison (Wales, UnitedKingdom) and The Brotherhood Lodge, Drumheller Penitentiary (Alberta, Canada) this remarkable historical story unfolds in a modern reality with relentless energy. It combines a remarkable cast that includes Sir Derek Jacobi, John Kani, Alice Krige, Warren Adler, Grant Swanby, Gunter Singer, Richard Clifford, prison officers and 500 prisoners.
The prisoner who becomes a dictator. The dictator who rules a cell.
This is Julius Caesar in the raw.
A Caesar you have never seen before.
The history.
In 1984 we received extraordinary permissions to explore the making of a feature film around the early life of Julius Caesar in a prison with prisoners. To this end we were sent to HMP Dartmoor – “the septic tank of the British prison system”.
About 18 months later the BFI, having seen the first script, funded us to write another. We wrote two – STONE HOTEL and NONCE.The BFI then split down the middle but elected to make NONCE by ex-para Michael Sambridge with the Caesar Writing Group.
When BFI announced we were making NONCE, the Lord in charge of the Prison Service immediately shut the project down, refusing to allow it to move forward.
We visited Sir Richard Attenborough at his home, literally as he arrived back from shooting BIKO.
Attenbrough went to see the then Home secretary, Douglas Hurd, and telephoned us at home the same day with the message: “Mission accomplished! Go back in and do your work: make Caesar.”
The project was re-instated at Dartmoor but from that moment no money or support was forthcoming from Britain.
We were guided by a Steering Committee comprized of prison officials and notables, including John Mortimer and Merlin Rees. The Steering Committee advised us that if we did not make the work, which the Prison service actually admired and wanted, the “good works” of English prisons would go back twenty years. And that is exactly what happened!
Other filmmakers, understanding our plight, invited us to Canada and South Africa. Two Freedom Fighters, Chris Austin and Rashid Lombard, who had been a committed part of the Struggle, accompanied us to Pretoria to gain permission to make Caesar in Pollsmoor Prison. Rashid’s wife had spent a long time in solitary in the neighbouring cell to Jenny Steuner who then headed up the South African prison service.
JAIL CAESAR was eventually shot in Pollsmoor Prison, where Mandela had been held as a prisoner, Cardiff Prison, Wales – the UK Prison System still completely supported us – and Drumheller Penitentiary, Alberta Canada.
ArchBishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu gave his fullest support to the work and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Kweku, joined us as executive producer.
After it’s first screenings JAIL CAESAR was invited to the Raindance Film Festival, London, where it was nominated Best UK Feature and received a two page spread in The Independent’. After that it was pushed out of view in England, although it went on to win multiple awards at festivals, enjoyed a three year run on Netflix USA and is still being sold world wide, including China.
We applaud the tremendous actors Sir Derek Jacobi, John Kani, Warren Adler and Richard Clifford and all the wonderful actors who worked side by side, sharing sheets and cells, with long term prisoners in South Africa under appalling conditions. We invite you to come and see the film – it’s still not avaiable in the UK – and ask us and prison officers any questions you might have.
JC is Part I; STONE HOTEL and NONCE, parts II and III of the Dartmoor Trilogy, are on the launch pad.
|
|