Punishment Park

by Peter Watkins
With American prisons at capacity, Nixon’s government initiates a program where federal officers hunt inmates for sport.
1971  ·  1h28m  ·  United States
English
About the Film

In this pseudo-documentary, U.S. prisons are at capacity, and President Nixon declares a state of emergency. All new prisoners, most of whom are connected to the antiwar movement, are now given the choice of jail time or spending three days in Punishment Park, where they will be hunted for sport by federal authorities. The prisoners invariably choose the latter option, but learn that, between the desert heat and the brutal police officers, their chances of survival are slim.

Upcoming Screenings

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Writer
Peter Watkins
Cinematography
Joan Churchill, Peter Smokler
About the Director

Peter Watkins

Peter Watkins was an English filmmaker, documentarian, writer and film theorist. He is known as a pioneer of the docudrama and the mockumentary genres, typically with heavy political content. His films present pacifist and radical ideas in a nontraditional style. He mainly concentrated his works and ideas around the mass media and viewers’ relation to and participation in a movie or television documentary

 
Other films by Peter Watkins

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