Filming Behind Bars: Omar Broadway

“Filming Behind Bars”, that’s the headline that a 2008 Tribeca Film Festival video “An Omar Broadway Film” has brought to the world, now that HBO has picked it up (it airs July 14th, at 8pm) and decided to give it a run on national television. The video, in which Omar Broadway was filming police officers, purports that Omar Broadway had sneaked the camera inside of the Northern State Prison in Newark, New Jersey so he could begin filming his prison documentary from behind the “bars” of his tiny cell. Judging from the reactions of the establishment politicians, media, and prison officials; that may indeed be the case (as opposed to a “staged” prison visit in which police officers are prepared for the entrance of the media).

The video is controversial, with many saying the video “shouldn’t exist”, even from professional media. Many are hailing it as the next “Rodney King moment”. So brace yourselves for the HBO run. However, HBO’s premium channel may not be received by the demographic responsible for the LA riots. The video has caught basically a prison riot and the police’s responses: all while they didn’t imagine they were being filmed. After all, filming behind bars was impossible: until Omar Broadway managed to smuggle a recording device into his cell.