When I Get Out

“A documentary film of this kind cannot be satisfied with a purely observational approach, so a psychodramatic intervention is needed. The objectives of the psychodramatic method are set flexibly, which means that the direction will be adapted to the psychodramatic or therapeutic dynamics, i.e., in particular, to emerging relationships and conflicts. The significant character differences, frustrations, and internal laws of prison life predictably give rise to disputes, which the documentary approach can use as building blocks for the story. Indeed, each of the performers has an interesting life story that many would like to see written in a book or depicted in a film. Characters of this type tend to use the opportunity of telling and confessing - especially if a camera is present - as a performative occasion in which they want to tell their "truth," justifying the criminal past with more or less skillful mimicry. This hardened defensive posture is bypassed by an experienced psychotherapist using the method of psychodrama, allowing the participants - without really realizing it - to communicate more honestly. For a similar reason, the film-therapy experiment will avoid the criminal past of the performers. By avoiding their criminal past, one could gain engaging suspense, while this past would undoubtedly act as an invisible agent for the present events recorded by the film camera. A look into the future brings more uncertainty and openness. This raises an essential question for the psychotherapist and his method: Do the convicts also have any untapped potential that, if successfully developed, could have a tangible impact on their lives after their sentences are over? This film experiment hypothesizes that creativity in the broadest sense opens up such possibilities.”