The stilted routines and formalities of the job interview can provoke a particular kind of anxiety in most people seeking employment. But coming to the table with a criminal record can make those tensions razor-sharp. In this observational short documentary, the Québécois filmmaker Nicolas Lévesque places the viewer inside training sessions for three men preparing for job interviews following their release from prison. Forced to confront their pasts in this stressful setting, fragments of stories, including their hopes for and apprehensions about the future, begin to emerge. Unvarnished yet empathetic, the film offers a sobering account of the overwhelming challenges that ex-convicts face when re-entering society.
How do you prepare for a job interview when you have a criminal record?
Director: Nicolas Lévesque
Producers: Nathalie Cloutier, Colette Loumède, Catherine Benoit
Website: National Film Board of Canada
28 May 2019
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