JAIL TIME RECORDS, a documentary film by Dione Roach and Steve Happi

JAIL TIME RECORDS

Directed by Dione Roach and Steve Happi

Cameroon, USA| 2026 | Documentary | 94 min | French w/ subtitles

 Douala’s New Bell Central Prison in Cameroon is a brutal prison, built for 800 men but now houses more than 6,000. The inmates stage musical interludes that turn their confinement into an artistic statements of rage and passion. In 2018, prisoners including Dione Roach and Steve Happi decided to establish a recording studio there, which became the first permanent recording studio in an African prison. Here musicians could record performances of their work. Out of that studio emerged Jail Time Records, a nonprofit record label that produces and releases work by artists incarcerated and formerly incarcerated in Cameroon’s prisons. 

Over the years Jail Time  has grown into a collective of musicians, producers and filmmakers and become a space of respect, creativity, purpose. Hundreds of artists have used the studio, creating thousands of songs spanning afro, hip-hop, R&B, traditional music, and gospel. The film immerses us in prison life, profiling incarcerated artists Stone, Empereur, and Transporteur as they create raw, impactful hip-hop. 

For artists living in confinement, music becomes a way to keep creating, resisting and believing in a second chance. Jail Time Records not only identifies and promotes talent, it gives them practical tools to aid their reintegration into society. It transforms lives through creativity, amplifying unheard voices and building pathways to change. 

Today, Jail Time Records operates as a multimedia record label and cultural platform not only for incarcerated people but for marginalized and underserved communities generally. Jail Time Records has also opened a second recording studio in Douala  outside the prison, to help  formerly incarcerated artists reintegrate into community life. Beyond Douala, it created a a production space and visual arts center inside Ngoma prison in Cameroon and has opened a recording studio inside MACO prison in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. 

The film won three awards at the 2026 Tribeca Festival: Best Documentary Feature, Best Cinematography in a Documentary Feature, and the Albert Maysles Award for Best New Documentary Director.

The film will screen at the Vermont International Film Festival, in Burlington, on Friday, October 23. For tickets and information, visit the VTIFF website.