Jailbirds - Closed Society 2005

Directed by Andrei Schwartz

A documentary about everyday life in a Romanian high-security prison near Bucharest. Filmmaker Andrei Schwartz spent more than half a year accompanying and observing the lives of the prisoners. Up to 22 men share a cell in the hopelessly overcrowded Rahova prison on the outskirts of Bucharest. Schwartz focuses more closely on several individual fates and describes how the men try above all to get through each day unscathed. At the same time, the film shows how the prisoners try to preserve their humanity in an inhumane environment and cope with their bleak everyday lives with creativity, humor, and a spark of optimism.