Animal Factory

Director: Steve Buscemi
Screenwriters: Ed Bunker, John Steppling

Institute History

  • 2000 Sundance Film Festival

Description

Ron Decker (Edward Furlong) is twenty-one and handsome, but he has just been smacked with a prison sentence for drug trafficking. The best he can expect is to spend the next ten years behind the walls of Eastern State Penitentiary. He stumbles under the wing of Earl Copen (Willem Dafoe), a well-respected gang leader doing his own time for the better part of his life. Maybe Earl sees something of himself in Ron that is worth saving, or maybe it is just that Ron fears he cannot survive prison life without Earl, but an odd relationship is forged between these two men, one that has serious consequences for them both.
Steve Buscemi directs an incredible cast in a film that explores the reality of life behind bars. He has crafted a rare and poignant portrait of prison life where the human need for friendship and intimacy survives against all odds.

— John Cooper

Screening Details

Credits

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