The Visitors
NEW DOCS
An unexpected look at prison life, told through the voices of those on the outside. This intimate film begins in New York City in the middle of the night, as lines, mostly of women, assemble to board buses headed to prisons upstate. For these travelers the journey to see their partners has become routine, their relationship depending on a few hours’ visit each weekend and brief phone calls in between. Some were involved with their partners long before incarceration; others met after. There is no discussion of the crimes and little of redemption; instead the conversation lingers on the length of the sentence and how intense the longing can become, on the loneliness, and on the isolation of being in a situation that family members and outsiders cannot understand. As one woman poignantly states, “I’m doing my time, too.” This moving film leaves us to ponder the aching desire for companionship and the overwhelming dedication to love, as strained as it may be. ST
Director
Melis Birder
Producer
Melis Birder
Executive Producers
Sam Pollard, St. Clair Bourne
Editor
K.A. Miille
Cinematographers
Suat Kutlug, Melis Birder
Release Year
2009
Festival Year
2009
Country
United States
Run Time
65 minutes
Premiere
World Premiere