Prison? A Film by Charlie Ryder followed by Q&A

bristol | protests | event notice Monday October 10, 2011 18:00 by Pascale Stanley pascale.stanley at googlemail dot com

Sunday, October 23 · 6:00pm - 9:00pm  

King Square Art Space 12 - 13 King Square, BS2 8JX Bristol.

In October 1993 Charlie Ryder took part in a violent protest to shut down the BNP headquarters in Welling South East London. Two months later he was featured on crime monthly a program which appealed for some of Britain's most wanted criminals. Arrested the next morning he waited nearly 2 years before he was sent to prison for 16 months.

While in prison he received a letter of support from a British Holocaust survivor Leon Greenman who had also protested to shut down the BNP headquarters. Charlie kept this letter in a scrapbook with poetry and artwork he collected to record his time inside.

On his release from prison he developed the scrapbook into a one man play which was critically acclaimed at Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Aug 2007 and then performed in prisons universities and conferences.

Charlie has now developed his story into a feature film using shadow puppetry, marionette puppets, rod puppets, masks, visual art, poetry and dance to shine a light on his time inside.
Charlie hopes that by painting a picture of his experience it will educate people and challenge perceptions of prison and prisoners.

“Charlie puts his heart and soul on screen and clearly has a point to make. Prison is portrayed here as the antithesis to tabloid journalism’s assertion that it is the equivalent of a holiday camp. A television or a games console is not a worthy substitute for liberty. I certainly will not be choosing prison as my holiday destination of choice. “ Grant Holdsworth