{{short description|2012 film by Angad Singh Bhalla}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox film | name = Herman's House | image = | caption = | director = Angad Singh Bhalla | producer = Ed Barreveld<br>Loring McAlpin<br>Lisa Valencia-Svensson | writer = | starring = Jackie Sumell<br>Herman Wallace | music = Ken Myhr | cinematography = Iris Ng | editing = Ricardo Acosta | studio = Storyline Entertainment | distributor = First Run Features | released = {{Film date|2012|3|2|True/False}} | runtime = 80 minutes | country = Canada<br>United Kingdom<br>United States | language = English | budget = }}
'''''Herman's House''''' is a documentary film, directed by Angad Singh Bhalla and released in 2012.<ref>Mark Jenkins, [https://www.npr.org/2013/04/18/177331108/building-a-home-for-a-client-who-cant-live-in-it "Building A Home For A Client Who Can't Live In It"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013170707/https://www.npr.org/2013/04/18/177331108/building-a-home-for-a-client-who-cant-live-in-it |date=October 13, 2023 }}. NPR, April 18, 2013.</ref> An American, British and Canadian coproduction, the film profiles Herman Wallace, a member of the Angola Three who had been in prison for over 40 years after his shorter prison term for bank robbery was extended with a disputed conviction for a murder he did not commit, and Jackie Sumell, a conceptual artist who has launched a project of building the dream house Wallace wishes he could live in if he is ever released from prison.<ref name=ritchie>Kevin Ritchie, [https://playbackonline.ca/2012/05/03/hot-docs-2012-reimagining-the-prison-flick-with-hermans-house/ "Hot Docs 2012: Reimagining the prison flick with Herman’s House"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250127204554/https://playbackonline.ca/2012/05/03/hot-docs-2012-reimagining-the-prison-flick-with-hermans-house/ |date=January 27, 2025 }}. ''Playback'', May 3, 2012.</ref>
Wallace is never shown in the film, and instead is heard only in recorded telephone conversations with Sumell.<ref>Stephen Holden, [https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/19/movies/hermans-house-directed-by-angad-bhalla.html "Dreams From His Cell"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013170346/https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/19/movies/hermans-house-directed-by-angad-bhalla.html |date=October 13, 2023 }}. ''The New York Times'', April 18, 2013.</ref>
==Distribution== The film premiered at the 2012 True/False Film Festival,<ref>Hannah Spaar, [https://www.voxmagazine.com/true-false/t-f-review-hermans-house/article_6f90776f-4338-5d41-bb24-7fd36ad13f70.html "T/F Review: Herman's House"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013165852/https://www.voxmagazine.com/true-false/t-f-review-hermans-house/article_6f90776f-4338-5d41-bb24-7fd36ad13f70.html |date=October 13, 2023 }}. ''Vox Magazine'', March 2, 2012.</ref> and had its Canadian premiere at the 2012 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.<ref name=ritchie/>
It was broadcast in July 2013 as an episode of the PBS documentary series ''POV''.<ref>Fausto Giovanny Pinto, [https://www.newsday.com/news/nation/pbs-to-air-documentary-on-ny-artist-s-project-l02714 "PBS to air documentary on NY artist's project"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013180418/https://www.newsday.com/news/nation/pbs-to-air-documentary-on-ny-artist-s-project-l02714 |date=October 13, 2023 }}. ''Newsday'', July 7, 2013.</ref>
==Awards== Bhalla was the winner of the Magnus Isacsson Award at the 2012 Montreal International Documentary Festival.<ref>T'Cha Dunlevy, "A fitting finale for late director Magnus Isacsson; Weeks before his death he was happily involved". ''Montreal Gazette'', November 23, 2012.</ref>
The film was a Donald Brittain Award nominee for best social or political documentary at the 2nd Canadian Screen Awards in 2014.<ref>Manori Ravindran, [https://realscreen.com/2014/01/13/watermark-my-prairie-home-up-for-canadian-screen-awards/ "'Watermark,' 'My Prairie Home' up for Canadian Screen Awards"]. ''RealScreen'', January 13, 2014.</ref> Ricardo Acosta was nominated for Best Editing in a Documentary Program or Series, and Ken Myhr received a nomination for Best Music for a Non-Fiction Program or Series.
The film won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Arts and Culture Programming at the 2014 News and Documentary Emmy Awards.<ref>Julianna Cummins, [https://playbackonline.ca/2014/10/01/cbc-nfb-win-intl-emmy-awards/ "NFB, Herman’s House win Emmy Awards"]. ''Playback'', October 1, 2014.</ref>
==Legacy== Following Wallace's death of cancer in late 2013, Bhalla and digital media producer Ted Biggs created the interactive documentary project ''The Deeper They Bury Me: A Call from Herman Wallace'', which was based around Wallace's time in solitary confinement, for the National Film Board of Canada.<ref>Lauren Wissot, [https://globalcomment.com/an-interactive-journey-through-solitary-confinement-the-deeper-they-bury-me-a-call-from-herman-wallace/ "An Interactive Journey Through Solitary Confinement: 'The Deeper They Bury Me: A Call from Herman Wallace'"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013165912/https://globalcomment.com/an-interactive-journey-through-solitary-confinement-the-deeper-they-bury-me-a-call-from-herman-wallace/ |date=October 13, 2023 }}. ''Global Comment'', October 23, 2015.</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb title|qid=Q122931612}}
Category:2012 films Category:2012 documentary films Category:American documentary films Category:American prison films Category:British documentary films Category:British prison films Category:Canadian documentary films Category:Canadian prison films Category:Documentary films about incarceration in the United States Category:2012 American films Category:2012 British films Category:2012 Canadian films Category:POV (TV series) films Category:English-language Canadian films