An Eye on UDV
Fabrice Garcia-Carpintero
2023 - 10 min - Vidéo Ultra HD - Couleur - France

For many years, I’ve been working with young people from the Youth Protection and Juvenile Justice service, from closed educational centers, from the juvenile wings in jail or in penitentiary centers. In just a few weeks of work, with three of the six inmates from the Violence Disengagement Unit (VDU) of the Uzerche detention center; we created this documentary short film, a bit surrealist, mixing messages transmitted via slams, the inmates’ own words and a look on this high-security block, little known from the general public.
The VDU is a voluntary placement lasting six months, in total isolation, destined for inmates who are willing to take a step back from some violent behaviors interfering with the successful completion of their sentence. Each has their own relation to violence, with different sources and manifestations, but they often have similar judiciary routes, generally beginning with a progressive privation of freedom since childhood.
Each of the participants had something to say, and with complete freedom of speech, they reveal what they have in their hearts forgetting for a moment their detention conditions in the VDU.
This short film is accompanied with music from hacecah, real name Alexandre Dupierris, it is an original composition including samples of the characteristic noises in prison environment: doors that are slammed, locked, unlocked, squeaking, beeping, etc. The author Christian Brissart helped me lead those workshops, his life experiences soon permitted to create strong bonds.