These prisoners may survive, but they've already lost their lives.

Winner of many awards, including the PRIX ALBERT LONDRES in the TV category, 2000.
It doesn't take long to lose hope at the prison on the island of Nosy Lava. In exile off the coast of Madagascar, these men have been prisoners for what seems like a lifetime. In some cases, it has been a lifetime.

Built in 1911, the prison still functions as a prison from the past. The model system from the French colonial period has been continued by the Madagascan state despite the fact that independence came in 1960. It is in this prison that the last imates, some of whom were sentenced by the French authorities in 1960, live out their lives totally forgotten and with no hope for the future.

In their complete confinement to the island, the prisoners live in a state of semi-incarceration: they are kept in cells at night but are sent out to work for their food during the day, as the authorities do not supply them with food. Some are fed and helped by the islands' inhabitants, who have accepted them as part of the community.

Today there are 200 prisoners left. They are prisoners from a history that is not their own, prisoners who have been left behind in the past. Some of these men finished serving their sentences more than 35 years ago, yet they are still perishing. It is a miracle that there are those who survive at all.

Documentary Award at the African View Festival in Montreal (2000).
Special Mention of the International Independents' Award at the North-South Media Festival Geneva (2000).