Experiencing Interruptions?

A Flower in a Dark Place

Since 2013, small groups of University of Richmond students and young people incarcerated in Virginia’s Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center have come together to share life stories in a weeks-long program. Due to privacy constraints, communication beyond the program is prohibited and filming inside the jail is not permitted. In A FLOWER IN A DARK PLACE, audio recordings emerging from the last one-hour conversations of four partner-pairs are overlaid with poetic visuals, imagining incarcerated youth in landscapes of freedom.

  • Jeanette Lam
    Director
  • Jeanette Lam
    Producer
  • Sylvia Gale
    Assistant Producer
  • Nina Joss
    Production Assistant
  • Cain
    Key Cast
  • Kalil
    Key Cast
  • Maha
    Key Cast
  • Zach
    Key Cast
  • Halle
    Key Cast
  • Nassir
    Key Cast
  • Kaitlin
    Key Cast
  • Ski
    Key Cast
  • Marquise
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Short, Student
  • Genres:
    Participatory, Poetic, Cinepoetry, Interview
  • Runtime:
    19 minutes 40 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 3, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    7,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes
  • Richmond International Film Festival
    Richmond
    United States
  • Social Political Short Film Festival
  • Docs Without Borders Film Festival
  • NeXt Doc's Decarceration Film Festival
Director Biography - Jeanette Lam

JEANETTE LAM is a documentary filmmaker, writer, and educator whose work reflects themes of identity, connection, and healing.

Jeanette is a Creative Producer and Lead Educator at Youth FX, an Albany-based film organization designed to teach young people from marginalized communities technical and creative storytelling skills. She is also a member of NeXt Doc Film Collective, a cohort of young non-fiction filmmakers of color working to decolonize documentary, by re-framing and re-defining BIPOC stories and realities.

Jeanette published her documentary short film The Last Hands in Zellige in USA Today in 2018 and screened her latest short film A Flower in a Dark Place in the Richmond International Film Festival, Docs Without Borders Film Festival, Social Political Film Festival, and NeXt Doc's Decarceration Film Festival.

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Director Statement

JEANETTE LAM is a documentary filmmaker, writer, and educator whose work reflects themes of identity, connection, and healing.