Exclusive: Emmy Nominated Incarcerated Men Talk HBO’s ‘It's a Hard Truth Ain't It’
While most of the Emmy nominations have been announced, there are still some yet to be determined. The HBO documentary IT'S A HARD TRUTH AIN'T IT was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Arts and Culture.
Filmed at Indiana’s Pendleton Correctional Facility, the film chronicles 13 incarcerated men (Dennis Brown, Marshaun Buggs, Al’Jonon Coleman, James Collins, Franklin Cox, Brandon Crider, Clifford Elswick, Quentis Hardiman, Joseph Henderson, Charles Lawrence, Herb Robertson, Rushawn Tanksley, and Mark Thacker) as they reflect on their road to prison.
One of the men, Charles Lawrence passed away recently from Covid-19 while in prison. Unique to the film, all 13 men, most of whom are black, also served as co-directors and are therefore nominated for Emmy Awards as well.
Emmy Award winning director Madeline Sackler served as co-director along with the men. Sackler is a fierce advocate for the abolition of the prison system in the US, especially as Charles Lawrence did not get the care he needed in prison.
Through the help of Sackler, BlackFilmandTV.com was able to speak with Franklin Cox over the phone and get some responses from the others via text about the nomination, the process of being a director and what they hope audiences can get from watching the film.
How do you feel about the nomination?
Franklin Cox: It’s unreal. I’m blessed. I feel blessed. Some people work their whole lives for a nomination and never get it. So, first time out in the batter’s box and to be nominated, and to be from where I’m at, it’s even more crazy.
Clifford Elswick: That this project has been recognized as something meaningful, nominated for an Emmy, is a profound testament in the innate beauty of our shared humanity. I now suppose that if we each share the determination to keep treading the surface of our hardships, we can each reach the shores of our grandest aspirations.
Can you talk about when the project came to you and why you agreed to do it?
Franklin Cox: I first heard of it when I was at and they said that this young lady will do a film workshop. I signed up for it and one weekend we talked about filmmaking.
Rushawn Tanksley: When i volunteered to do the project i was just curious about what was gonna be happening, because everything wasn’t really clear. But we knew that we were gonna be recorded. But most of us pretty much knew each other so everything went pretty smooth, and it would be cool to do something different
Clifford Elswick: After 27 years of treading the tumultuous waters of prison life and spending nearly 5 years in solitary confinement, I was on the verge of sinking, relinquishing myself to the torrents that surge in the catacombs of this abnormal environment. But much like a rope extended to the shipwrecked, this project reenergized me with a belief that my shame and suffering could somehow be transformed into an implement of hope for someone else struggling amidst adversity. And that reinvigorated me with the desire to keep swimming.
Dennis Brown: My thoughts about participating really have not changed. That is that this was a once in a life time chance to learn and participate in something new and so different from anything Ive ever done or would of done with the life Ive lived.
Joseph Henderson: I decided to do this project because I wanted to shed a better light on the way prisoners are perceived by the public as a whole.
Were you aware that it would be other inmates as well participating as filmmakers?
Franklin Cox: Yes. At first we didn’t know what it was going to be. It was more like, “Let’s see what we can do."Madeleine Sackler had an idea of what it was going to be but we didn’t. As the workshop went on, it developed more into what came out.
Some of you were in the film O.G. How was it going from being an actor to shooting a film and telling your own story?
Rushawn Tanksley: For me, it was something cool to do and be able to tell my family and friends that i was in a movie with Jeffrey Wright and its on HBO. Something to be proud of.
What did you think of the animated sequence in the film?
Rushawn Tanksley: I thought the animated sequence of the film was
awesome, we looked good and we should have our own cartoon or something.
Joseph Henderson: The animation was an exceptional tool that allowed the viewer to stay engaged but also helped to tell the story visually.
Franklin Cox: I enjoyed it. I really enjoyed that aspect of it.
How was working with the other filmmakers and having them tell their stories to you?
Al’Jonon Coleman: It was a blast, there is nothing better than being captivated by a great story…
Dennis Brown: I learned so much when interviewing the others about the fact that so many of us had different lives and yet still ended up here for crimes with a gun.
Joseph Henderson: Both of the processes were enlightening for me. It showed me how a simple idea or thought could become a non-fictional documentary or a fictional movie. I truly enjoyed hearing the stories of the fellow filmmakers because it gave me a lot of insight on their backgrounds and challenges growing up.
Would you want to continue as a filmmaker if the opportunity came up again and if so, what story would you want to tell?
Al’Jonon Coleman: Yes, and because I love music, the story would be about an R&B singer who mask insecurities and childhood trauma through song, but will soon have to face the music.
Rushawn Tanksley: Being a filmmaker is a lot of work and i would love to continue in the filmmaking business, plus there are a lot of stories I would like to tell, but my truth isn’t over.
Dennis Brown: Yes, I would want to continue film making if the opportunity came about again.
Joseph Henderson: I would absolutely do a project like this again! This was an experience that has completely changed my life!!!
Franklin Cox: Yes. I would love to continue making films.
What do you want folks to take away from seeing this?
Al’Jonon Coleman: That being incarcerated doesn't mean that creativity and purpose cease to exist, and like the rest of society, a lapse in judgment shouldn't define someone for the rest of their life…
Clifford Elswick: The most profound truth to be discovered through this documentary is that when we peel away the external superficialities that distinguish us one from another, it is the mindsets fashioned in the disjoined subcultures of our society that divides us. Bring those under the transformative influence of quality education and equal opportunity, and even the most disadvantaged and disdained will find purpose and prove themselves worthy of the opportunity to contribute to the collective pursuit of our common good. In such an environment, our Nation would finally ascend its greatest potential and relegate our prisons to the archaic landscape of our primordial past.
Herbert Robertson III: I would like people to take from our documentary that although all of us made mistakes, many crimes are developed in childhood nurturing, and our environment. Yes, we needed to pay for offending society, but at some point decades later many of us have changed our way of thinking and living.
Society in many cases would benefit from our experience by allowing us to give something back by helping with our individual strengths with kids, and people at risk. Much as we were many years ago.
Rushawn Tanksley: What I want people to get out of seeing the film is that nobody is perfect and we all are just human and we just need to communicate and learn to try to understand each other. And we've all made mistakes that we want to make up for.
Joseph Henderson: People should take away that just because we are incarcerated we are no longer the person that got us here. We have evolved and became the best examples of ourselves that we could be.
Mark Thacker: The thing that I think about the most is regarding how others might view the project and whether they are able to appreciate the contributions of someone behind prison walls.
Notwithstanding, I hope that the public will be able to see beyond the perceptional reality of crime & punishment to embrace the common humanity that still exist inside even the men who are incarcerated, and that despite our mistakes we have, as apart of our common humanity a desire to right the wrongs of our past.
How do you keep your spirits up?
Herbert Robertson III: I keep my spirits up by training service dogs to help children and adults with disabilities. | have trained nine dogs, and been a member of a nationally recognized service dog non profit for almost 10 years while in prison. I also mentor offenders within the prison to join the substance abuse program,| have been drug free for over a decade now, and | share my experience, strength, and hope with offenders to help them make the choice to leave here differently than when we arrived. Changing the way we think and live IN prison is my mantra, its how | live on a day to day basis. By giving away what I have, I continue to grow, improve myself, and plan for my future.
Rushawn Tanksley: To keep my spirits up, well I read the Bible, pray, and try to keep as much contact with my family as possible.
Joseph Henderson: I keep my spirits lifted by continually making my family proud of the person that i am. I do this by doing all that I can to learn and grow emotionally, spiritually, and most of all humbly. Always remember that just because we are currently incarcerated, we have not done all we can to better ourselves to become better people that deserve a second chance.