On April 11, 1993, the prisoners of Cellblock L of the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio, started a riot.
The riot ended 11 days later. The Easter Day uprising was one of the longest and bloodiest riots in American history, leaving nine prisoners dead, one correctional officer murdered and over $40 million in damages to the prison.
The Shadow of Lucasville, a documentary by Ohio University film student Derrick Jones, shows another side of the story. Aiding the Youngstown native are two grants, one worth $5,000 from the I. Hollis Parry/Ann Parry Billman Fine Arts Award at OU, and another worth $20,000 from the Princess Grace Foundation.
Created in 1984, the Princess Grace Foundation upholds Princess Grace's dedication to supporting the arts and believes that cultivation and training of promising talent is essential to ensure sustained excellence in the arts
said Toby E. Boshak, executive director of the foundation.
PGF-USA is proud to support emerging artists at the most important and fragile time of their careers ' the beginning Boshak said.
In addition to accepting the grant, Jones will be honored by the Prince of Monaco at the foundation's Oct. 15 gala in New York City.
Past recipients of the grant include Superbad director Greg Mottola and SpongeBob SquarePants creator Stephen Hillenburg.
Getting such a large amount from such a prestigious organization means a lot to me Jones said.
ANOTHER SIDE OF THE STORY
The Shadow of Lucasville is a documentary aimed at the aftermath (of the riot)
Jones said.
After seeing the play, Lucasville: The Untold Story of a Prison Uprising, Jones became interested in the activist back-story of the riot, which he explores with his film.
The basis of the case (is) talking to the activists and lawyers and different folks who were involved in that whole situation and presenting a side of the story that is not being presented in the courts and kind of raising awareness for the situation
Jones said.
Steve Ross, director of the OU School of Film and a filmmaker in his own right, described the challenges of documentary filmmaking, relating the process to a puzzle.
(Documentaries) are puzzles
and Derrick certainly has a big puzzle to tell
Ross said. (With his film) there's a historical documentary
there's a modern-day legal system documentary and there's the judicial system documentary.
Jones will have to integrate many elements of this story into some kind of coherent whole, Ross said.
Another challenge for Jones is transportation, as he personally travels from Athens to interview his subjects in areas like Toledo, Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati.
Jones said that he plans to have the documentary completed by summer 2009. PBS has expressed interest in the film, and Jones also intends on showing the film at different events and festivals.
Once filming is completed, Jones will continue to work with grassroots communities of America.
I really want to focus on some of the issues in documentaries that we just don't focus on enough
Jones said.
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