16 Bars

Released Nov 8, 2019

1h 34m

Documentary

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for 16 Bars: Trailer 1

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80%

Tomatometer

5 Reviews

100%

Audience Score

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Inmates at a Virginia jail collaborate with Speech -- singer of the hip-hop group Arrested Development -- to write music and record songs.

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Tim Cogshell

FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)

There is so much talent that it's almost dizzying.

Nov 19, 2019

Full Review

Gary Goldstein

Los Angeles Times

The sobering, candid, sadly profound documentary "16 Bars" may center on a 2017 music workshop for prisoners in a Richmond, Va., jail but emerges as an unsettling snapshot of recidivism and the flaws in America's criminal justice system.

Nov 15, 2019

Full Review

Ben Kenigsberg

New York Times

It only sometimes transcends its role as an awareness tool and reveals the texture and detail that long-term documentary filming can produce.

Nov 7, 2019

Full Review

Mark Goodyear

Battle Royale With Cheese

Through an unwavering lens, 16 Bars investigates the ways humanity traps itself in a cage through cycles of crime. Sam Bathrick has created something special with his efforts in telling a story the world needed to hear.

Jan 15, 2020

Full Review

Lapacazo Magrira Sandoval

Los Angeles Sentinel

16 Bars is engaging for a myriad of reasons but its Speech sharing the oral histories along with the making of the album that sets this documentary apart.

Dec 6, 2019

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M J Ruys

What a powerful and eye-opening film. Really humanizes the incarcerated like now other prison movie I’ve ever seen before. This one will stay with me. And I’m definitely buying the soundtrack on vinyl. 5 Stars coz there’s no option to give it 6.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/16/19

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Sam Bathrick

Director

Speech Thomas

Actor

Joe Lamont

Executive Producer

Eric Michels

Executive Producer

Adam Barton

Producer

Alex Cullen

Cinematographer

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16 Bars: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

Inmates at a Virginia jail collaborate with Speech -- singer of the hip-hop group Arrested Development -- to write music and record songs.

Director: Sam Bathrick
Producer: Adam Barton
Distributor: Lightyear Entertainment
Production Co: Resonant Pictures
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 8, 2019, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 7, 2020
Runtime: 1h 34m

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