Kickstarter

Please visit our website: www.exilenation.org

Click here to view the trailer on YouTube. 

Click here to see the first 10 mins of the film

The Land of the Free punishes or imprisons more of its citizens than any other nation. This collection of testimonials from criminal offenders, family members, and experts on America’s criminal justice system puts a human face on the millions of Americans subjugated by the US Government's 40 year, one trillion dollar social catastrophe: The War on Drugs; a failed policy underscored by fear, politics, racial prejudice and intolerance in a public atmosphere of "out of sight, out of mind."

The United States has only 5% of the world's population, yet a full 25% of the world's prisoners. At 2.5 million, the US has more prisoners than even China does with five times the population of the United States. 8 million Americans (1 in every 31) languish under some form of state monitoring known as "correctional supervision." On top of that, the security and livelihood of over 13 million more has been forever altered by a felony conviction. 

The American use of punishment is so pervasive, and so disproportionate, that even the conservative magazine The Economist declared in 2010, "Never in the civilized world have so many been locked up for so little."

The project will unfold over a two year period, beginning with the release of this feature-length documentary and then continuing on with the release of short films and complete interviews from each of the 100 participants in the project, meant to represent the 1 in 100 Americans that are currently sitting behind bars. 

$HOW YOU CAN HELP$

"The Exile Nation Project is not just one film - it’s an online archive of interviews, short films, and other features that will grow over the next two years. Our foundation grant got us off the ground and helped us make the first film, but we need to raise $7,000 by the end of May so that we can hold screenings in cities and Universities across the U.S. this year, as well as allow us to continue the process of collecting the testimonies that are the heart and soul of the Exile Nation Project. When the stories hit home, people get involved, and policy can finally begin to change. It is our greatest hope that once these voices find a broader audience, people of the US will feel compelled to pressure the government to change these unfair policies and end the era of prohibition and mass incarceration." ~ Charles Shaw - Director, The Exile Nation Project.

Please make a donation to our Kickstarter campaign. Every little bit helps get the word out to more people.

All content is non-commercial and available for free distribution under a Creative Commons license. 

BONUS FEATURE: "Friday the 13th", a poem by John Sinclair, follows the credits. 

Written, Produced and Directed by Charles Shaw

Director of Photography - Charles Shaw

Edited by Charles Shaw & Dustin Edwards

Motion Graphics - Dustin Edwards, Brodie Sullivan

Music by Random Rab, Junior Boys, Cloud Cult, Four Tet, The War on Drugs, SearchLite.

Production Assistants - Erin Shaw, Michael Garfield, Baza Novic

Technical Advisor - Taylor Cahill

Featuring...

Christian Parenti

Eric Sterling

Mark Kleiman, Ph.D

Sanho Tree

Judge James P. Gray

Ethan Nadelmann

Anthony Papa

John Sinclair

Nora Callahan

Chuck Armsbury

Amy Povah Ralston

Lynette Shaw

Scott Imler

Kyle Kazan

Julie Holland, M.D.

Robert Manor

Aaron Blackledge, M.D.

Randolph Hencken

Stephen Dubov

Chris Bava

Steve Costello

Dorothy Johnson-Speight

Ryan Keesling

Alexis Wilson Briggs

Malakkar Vohryzek

AJ Lovewins

Debi Campbell

Julie Falco

Allison Moore

Jean Marlowe

Rebecca Forbes

Stephani Conyers

Dimitri Mobengo Mugianis

Audra DeLuca

Nicole Benisch

Anthony Reed