Doing Time, Doing Vipassana

{{Infobox film

| name = Doing Time, Doing Vipassana

| image = Doing time, Doing Vipassana poster.jpg

| alt =

| caption = theatrical poster

| director = {{ubl|Ayelet Menahemi|Eilona Ariel}}

| producer = Eilona Ariel

| writer =

| based_on =

| narrator = Paul Samson

| starring = Kiran Bedi

| music = {{ubl|Ady Cohen|Ari Frankel}}

| cinematography = Ayelet Menahemi

| editing = Ayelet Menahemi

| studio = Karuna Films

| distributor = Immediate Pictures
(2005 theatrical)

| released = {{Film date|1997}}

| runtime = 52 minutes

| country = {{ubl|India|Israel}}

| language = English

}}

Doing Time, Doing Vipassana is a 1997 Israeli independent documentary film project by two women filmmakers from Israel: Ayelet Menahemi and Eilona Ariel. The film is about the application of the vipassana meditation technique taught by S. N. Goenka to prisoner rehabilitation at Tihar Jail in India{{cite news|last=Holden|first=Stephen|title=Prisoners Finding New Hope in the Art of Spiritual Bliss|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/2005/07/08/movies/08doin.html?_r=1&|access-date=September 29, 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 8, 2005}} (which was reputed to be an exceptionally harsh prison).{{cite book|last=King|first=Sallie B.|title=Socially Engaged Buddhism|year=2009|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0824833350|page=152|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0qXroe0CeDwC&pg=PA152}} The film inspired other correctional facilities such as the North Rehabilitation Facility in Seattle to use Vipassana as a means of rehabilitation.{{cite book|last=Zook|first=Kristal Brent|title=Black women's lives : stories of power and pain|year=2006|publisher=Nation Books|location=New York|isbn=1560257903|pages=[https://archive.org/details/blackwomenslives00kris/page/239 239]–240|url=https://archive.org/details/blackwomenslives00kris|url-access=registration}}

Kiran Bedi, former Inspector General of Prisons for New Delhi, appears in the film.

Reception

Doing Time, Doing Vipassana received an average score of 64 based on eight critics at Metacritic.{{cite web|title=Doing Time, Doing Vipassana|url=http://www.metacritic.com/movie/doing-time-doing-vipassana|publisher=Metacritic|access-date=30 September 2013 }} It received a 71% rating based on 14 reviews at Rotten Tomatoes.{{cite web|title=Doing Time, Doing Vipassana (1997)|url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/doing-time-doing-vipassana/|publisher=Rotten Tomatoes|access-date=30 September 2013}}

The San Francisco Chronicle wrote of the film winning the Golden Spire Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival when noting its 2005 theatrical release. They praised the film, writing it had "distinct virtues: It tells a fascinating story. It makes a strong case for an alternative approach to incarcerated criminals. And it provides an attractive introduction to Vipassana meditation."

Slant Magazine gave the film two out of five stars, and generally panned the film, stating that the directors "fail to really get inside the heads of their subjects and to seriously convey the extent to which violence plays a role in their daily lives, choosing instead to follow the process with which Vipassana comes to the prison community and holds its prisoners in rapture." They felt the film's repeated use of "hyperbolic narration....strains to summon a sense of spiritual gravitas" and that the filmmakers brevity and informational tone made the film "something akin to an Epcot Center attraction."{{cite news|last=Gonzales|first=Ed|title=review: Doing Time, Doing Vipassana|url=http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/doing-time-doing-vipassana|access-date=September 30, 2013|newspaper=Slant Magazine|date=July 6, 2005}}

=Awards and nominations=

1998, winner of 'Golden Spire Award' at the San Francisco International Film Festival{{cite news|last=LaSalle|first=Mick|title=Also opening Friday|url=http://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/FILM-CLIPS-Also-opening-Friday-2632429.php|access-date=September 29, 2013|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle|date=May 27, 2005}}{{cite book|title=Its Always Possible: Transforming One of the Largest Prisons in the World|year=2005|publisher=Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd|isbn=8120728866|page=307|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fZK6ZbHc4_QC&pg=PA307}}
1998, winner of NCCD Pass Award from the American National Council on Crime and Delinquency{{cite news|last=staff|title=Award-winning video to be presented|url=http://juneauempire.com/stories/032499/Com_cbriefs.html|access-date=September 29, 2013|newspaper=Juneau Empire|date=March 24, 1999|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304004121/http://juneauempire.com/stories/032499/Com_cbriefs.html|url-status=dead}}
2000, winner of 'Gold Illumination Award' at Crested Butte Film Festival
2000, winner of 'Silver Award' for best documentary at Crested Butte Reel Fest