NFB Collection
Prisoners of Beckett
20051 h 25 min 14 secFilm: Documentary
Direction: Michka Saäl
Production: Jacques Debs (A.D.R. Productions)Delphine MorelJoseph Hillel (Qu4tre par Quatre Films Inc.)Julie BergeronÉric Michel (National Film Board of Canada)Joanne Carrière
Script: Michka Saäl
Produced by ARTE France and ADR Productions in co-production with Qu4tre par Quatre Films and the National Film Board of Canada, with the financial participation of Centre national de la cinématographie (CNC) - France, SODEC Sociétéde développement des entreprises culturelles - Québec, Québec Crédit d'impôt cinéma et télévision - Gestion SODEC, Procirep - Société des Producteurs et de l'Angoa-Agicoa, Canadian Film or Television Tax Credit, in association with Bravo! Canada, Radio-Canada, ORF Autriche, Yle TV2 Finlande, TG4 and LBCI and LBC SAT.
Prisoners of Beckett is the meeting of two worlds that never usually converge.
One is comprised of poetry and freedom, the other silence and obscurity.
It's a true story, which begins in a high security prison in Sweden, where a young actor, Jan Jonson, decides to stage "Waiting for Godot" with a cast of five prisoners.
Their performances turn out to be so unique and genuine that Beckett grants them the right to perform his play and follows the enterprise from his Parisian retreat.
Soon everyone is gripped by feverish enthusiasm: the prison governor, an exceptionally bizarre character for the post, and Jan Jonson convince the authorities to let the five actors step outside the prison walls and perform in a real theatre in Gothenburg. An extraordinary concession followed by an even more spectacular event!
Prisoners of Beckett is a film and a puzzle, half tragedy half farce, which reconstructs this adventure and sets off in search of its heroes today.
Other versions
Subject categories
- Theater > Amateur TheatreCompanies and PerformancesSocial Action
- Law and Crime > Prisons and Prisoners
- Foreign Countries > Scandinavia
Credits
- participant
- Jan Jonson
- Lennart Wilson
- Jösta Hagelbäck
- Marianne Hakansson
- Betty Skawonius
- Guy Hakim
- researcher
- Michka Saäl
- writer
- Michka Saäl
- director
- Michka Saäl
- producer
- Jacques Debs
- Delphine Morel
- Joseph Hillel
- Julie Bergeron
- Éric Michel
- Joanne Carrière
- director of photography
- Sylvestre Guidi
- sound
- Didier Pecheur
- editor
- Nadia Ben Rachid
- program unit
- Thierry Garrel
- Pierrette Ominetti
- production manager
- Terese Mörnvik
- camera assistant
- Robert Blom
- location manager
- Julien Perrin
- assistant editor
- Yohan Loiseau
- sound editor
- Frédéric Cloutier
- post-production
- Christine Cartier
- post-production coordinator
- Jean-Pierre St-Michel
- Jan Manuel Wodicka
- digital F/X
- Pierre Plouffe
- technical support
- Danielle Raymond
- re-recording
- Serge Boivin
- online editing
- Denis Pilon
- Denis Gathelier
- Gaspard Gaudreau
- production team
- Alain Rozanes
- Pascal Verroust
- Jacques Debs
- Delphine Morel
- production crew
- Jennifer Sabbah
- Sandrine Valageas
- Elisabeth Pawlowski
- administration
- Karina Megdiche
- Charlotte Volpin
- Maryse Chapdelaine
- associate producer
- Gylane St-Georges
- production coordinator
- Virginie Tremblay
- administration assistant
- Isabelle de Bellefeuille
- project coordinator
- Brigitte Couture
- graphic design
- Atelier IN 16
- subtitles
- Nathalie Nicol
- Robert Gray
- legal counsel
- Zénaïde Lussier
- song
- Bob Dylan