It's a Hard Truth Ain't It | |
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Directed by | Madeleine Sackler |
Production company | |
Release date | |
Running time | 81 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
It's A Hard Truth Ain't It is a 2018 American documentary film directed by Madeleine Sackler, Dennis Brown, Franklin Cox, Brandon Crider, Clifford Elswick, Joseph Henderson, Herb Robertson, Rushawn Tanksley, Marshaun Bugg, Al'jonon Coleman, James Collins, Quentis Hardiman, Charles Lawrence, and Mark Thacker. [2]
It is the first widely released film co-directed by people who are incarcerated. In the film, 13 men incarcerated in the Pendleton Correctional Facility in Indiana study filmmaking with Sackler to tell their own stories. [3] [4] Sackler's fiction film, O.G., was in part inspired by the work done for this documentary; many of the co-directors in It's A Hard Truth Ain't It also appear in O.G. [5]
It's A Hard Truth Ain't It was nominated for an Emmy Award in the Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary category. [6]
Animated portrayals of the men's memories were created by Yoni Goodman. [7] [8]
The film and O.G. were both acquired by HBO after premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival. [9] [10]
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Madeleine Sackler is an American filmmaker, heiress, and member of the Sackler family. She received an Emmy in 2015 and was nominated for a second one in 2020. Her grandfather, Raymond, was one of the three Sackler brothers who created and owned Purdue Pharma, infamous for its role in the Opioid epidemic. She has received criticism for her family fortune, which derives mostly from the sale and manufacture of the highly addictive pharmaceutical opioid Oxycontin, the central drug in the opioid crisis.
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