Interactive documentary
Herman Wallace spent more than 40 years in solitary confinement. This let audiences step inside it.
Herman Wallace, a Black Panther activist, spent more than 40 years in a six-by-nine-foot cell at Louisiana's Angola prison. I developed the original concept for an interactive documentary that let audiences move between that cell and the dream home he imagined while inside it, framed around a 20-minute prison phone call.
I co-wrote the proposal with Ted Biggs that won the Hot Docs Digital Development Deal, securing NFB Canada's backing. The goal was never just to inform people about Wallace's story — it was to use interaction to get closer to understanding it. The project premiered at the New York Film Festival in 2015.
My role: originated the concept, co-wrote the winning Hot Docs proposal, and helped shape the interactive structure through development.