Anne-Frédérique Widmann

Told through the charismatic voice of inmate Kenneth Reams, Free Men is a film about human resilience. In solitary confinement for the last 25 years, Kenneth has pushed back the walls of his cell to become a painter, a poet, the founder of a non-profit, and an art event organizer - while fighting at the same time for justice. At age 18, Kenneth Reams was convicted for capital murder without firing a bullet. He became the youngest inmate on Arkansas death row. Alongside art, the film shows how love can cross barbed wire and the length of an ocean in Kenneth's love for Isabelle, a French artist who wants to become his wife.

To escape oppression and a haunted past, Shewit flees Eritrea, risking her life, setting out alone on the road towards Europe. At fifteen, after a three-year journey, she arrives in Switzerland, the country in which she places her hopes and dreams. Seven years later, without a residence permit and under constant threat of deportation, Shewit persists and fights to become a free woman.