PODCAST | Angelo Acerbi interviews Tim Robbins, director of the film 45 Seconds of Laughter.
Tim Robbins is a nice man, a great actor and a committed director. All this shows in his documentary about the workshop The Actor’s Gang he brought in a maximun security jail in California. The simplicity of the film lets the powerful message of self-awareness and love spread out in all its strength. He has a mission of making lives of incarcerated men better through making them rejoin their inner selves. And it works.
45 Seconds of Laughter: A group of incarcerated men from Calipatria State Prison participate in a theatrical workshop with Tim Robbins’ theatre company, The Actors’ Gang. Defying racial barriers and gang affiliations, the men tap into emotions that have long been dormant while unexpected bonds emerge between former enemies. Using stock characters from the Commedia dell’Arte, the men struggle with the challenges of the violent environment they live in as they work towards a transformation and liberation unknown to their life behind bars.