Holloway is an incredibly powerful documentary directed by Sophie Compton and Daisy-May Hudson that was awarded the BFI London Film Festival Audience Award at its premiere in October of 2024. It takes place in Holloway Prison in London, England, which was Europe’s largest women’s prison before its closure in 2016. The film brings six former inmates—Aliyah Ali, Brenda (Lady Unchained), Sarah Cassidy, Tamar Mujanay, Mandy Ogunmokun, and Gerrah Selby—back to the facility before its demolition to discuss their experiences of incarceration in a women’s circle.

The film is largely set within a recreational space at Holloway, but is intermixed with footage of the deteriorating prison, as well as some clips of the women as they return to their old cells and other significant areas of the facility.

The group’s conversations occur over the course of five days and are facilitated by Lorraine Maher and therapist Maria Takaendisa. This length of production time allowed these women to become more comfortable with one another and form a community based on mutual vulnerability and healing.

The documentary follows the former inmates as they confront their past hardships that took place both inside and outside the grounds of Holloway. One of the most impactful sequences occurred on the fourth day when the women share stories of their upbringing and the circumstances that led to their incarceration. Many of these accounts share common threads of broken homes and domestic violence, shedding light on the harm that generational cycles of trauma and abuse can cause.

Despite the similarities between a lot of their experiences, each woman displays a very distinct perspective and attitude towards her time in prison. Holloway is represented as a site of trauma, fear, isolation, and shame, but also depicted as a place of safety and sisterhood—even a home for some.

Later in the film, Tamar expresses that her emotions became suppressed after leaving prison, being weighed down by worldly responsibilities. This sentiment demonstrates the importance of providing these women with the opportunity to process their experiences and a platform to share their stories.

The courage and vulnerability shown by each member of the women’s circle inspires open-mindedness and encourages viewers to dismantle any assumptions that they may carry towards inmates and ex-prisoners.

Holloway acts as an important testimony to the fact that everyone should be approached with empathy and care rather than presumptions, no matter their past mistakes, which is a lesson a lot of people could benefit from.