NYUSPS CALA Spring 2019 Film Series: Crime and Punishment around the World: Incarceration on Film

Screening of “Celda 211” Dir. Daniel Monzón (Spain, 2009). Introduced by Felipe Vara del Rey (NYU Tisch, Film)

About the Film: The story of two men on different sides of a prison riot – the inmate leading the rebellion and the young guard trapped in the revolt, who poses as a prisoner in a desperate attempt to survive the ordeal.

Winner of eight Goya Awards including Best Film.

About the Film Series

The notion of crime as an illegal act that is punishable by a government authority implies a clear differentiation between right and wrong. Mass incarceration further symbolizes the concept that a physical space drawn in bars and walls can impose a simple order onto a world that defies borders and neat categories. The purpose of punishment is to avenge, to incapacitate, and to deter, but does it work? Is justice served more than it is not? And might the abuses of mass incarceration be inherent to its practice? This series of international films takes a closer look at different interpretations of crime and punishment and what they say about a country’s values, collective identities, and understanding of history.

Sponsored by NYU SPS Center for Applied Liberal Studies.