Calipatria (2017)

• 78%
• 2017
• Leopold Calice
• Gerhard Treml

Convicted of murder, Sergio Cassilas (48) lives in solitary confinement. One hour a day he works in Calipatria's desert prison garden. With the help of a guard he smuggles a truckload of earth from the landscape of his favourite movie into its grounds. While working there, Sergio reveals the secret meaning of the soil for his life sentence in prison. Based on a real life story, the film documents Sergio's slow walk across the prison's empty courtyard. The camera's static gaze follows him into the distant garden. While the vision stays imprisoned, Sergio's story leads beyond the prison walls into the iconic riverscapes of the Rio Grande and Alaska's uncharted Yukon territories, tightly connected to American myths of wilderness, lucky strikes, self-made men and the promise of land and liberty for all.