BASTOY

74 min. 2010, Netherlands (filmed in Norway)

Directed by Michel Kapteijns

Photographed by Maasja Ooms

Sound by Rik Meier and Alex Booy

Edited by Albert Elings

Produced by Rolf Orthel / DNU Film

World sales/contact: First Hand Films,

Fritz Heeb-Weg 5, 8050 Zürich, Switzerland

info@firsthandfilms.com

+41 443122060

www.bastoythemovie.com

Bastøy is a state prison island located in the Oslo fjord, Norway. More then hundred convicted men are doing their sentence here: frauds, bank robbers, sexual offenders, gang leaders, assassins. Guards carry no weapons, there are no cells, no cameras or fences. „Bastøy is an arena for the development of responsibility“, the website of the prison promotes. On Bastøy, they don’t believe that criminals become better people if you punish them long and hard. If you give people responsibility and mutual respect, there is a bigger chance that they will pick up a better life. The approach seems to work: in Western Europe, recidivism is 60–70%. On Bastøy, it’s only 30%. “If you treat a man as a beast it will be a beast. If you treat a man as a criminal it will be a criminal. If you treat a man as a human being it will be a human being.” (Bear Heart, 1996)

BASTOY

Režissöör Michel Kapteijns

Bastoy on Norra riigivangla Oslo fjordis. Enam kui sadakond kriminaalkurjategijat elavad siin ilma kongide, trellide ja traataiata. Vangivalvuritel pole relvi ega kaameraid. Norra võimud on seisukohal, et kui kurjategijat kohelda kurjategijana, siis on ta ka tulevikus kurjategija. Kui aga tahad temast saada inimest, siis tuleb kurjategijat kohelda inimesena.