HOLLOWAY
“Does a woman really want to pump heroine in her arm with a baby in her belly? I don’t think so. As a child, I wanted my mum, and I think my mum wanted her mum”.
Mandy Ogunmokun, Founder & CEO of Treasures Foundation, Co-Creator & Participant
World Premiere London Film Festival October 2024
Directed by Daisy-May Hudson & Sophie Compton (Emmy, BIFA and Grierson nominated Another Body)
Made in a co-created trauma-informed model with
Aliyah Ali
Sarah Cassidy
Brenda Birungi
Mandy Ogunmokun
Tamar Mujanay
Gerrah Selby
and our Faciliator Lorraine Maher as supported by Trauma-Consultant Maria Takaendisa.
Produced by Sophie Compton & Polly Creed of Power Play
and
Alice Hughes and Claire O’Neill of Beehive Films, producers of Grierson and BIFA nominated Half Way
Exec Produced by Natasha Dack (White Nanny Black Child)
Edited by BAFTA nominated Stella Heath Keir (Taste of Mango, Girl)
Our mission is to call for all spaces: prisons, child services, housing services etc. to be trauma-informed; meaning that every person can be held in safety and given compassion context to their circumstances and behaviours.
Official Synopsis: Once the largest women's prison in Europe, Holloway Prison, before its demolition six former prisoners decided to walk back through its gates one last time. Though they have different personalities, backgrounds, hopes and dreams, they are all determined to reclaim their stories and give voice to those women still behind bars. As they explore the empty cells and corridors they once lived, memories resurface.
In the prison's former chapel, the group gathers for a women's circle. Initial tensions arise because they view Holloway through very different lenses: for some, it was a site of "nightmares"; for others, a "holiday camp" or a "home." Each woman struggles with vulnerability in her own way: some feel mistrust, or mask emotions with bravado, others suppress a righteous rage.
Trust builds, and deep-seated emotions and hidden fears finally come out. As they share and listen, they find the courage to open up, revealing strikingly similar stories of growing up around domestic violence and facing punishment from a young age. Their experiences paint a harsh picture of broken systems and the societal pattern of criminalising young women for their trauma. As they unpack layers of identity, the women grapple with accountability and shame: shame stemming from childhood, but compounded by a system that never put their behaviour in context.
With the group's support, they journey towards self-compassion, in a transformative process that stands testament to the power of collective healing and the brave and cathartic act of sharing your story in circle.
