Songs Inside

A unique rehabilitation program connecting female prisoners to music offers a path to healing and hope in this sensitively told, award-winning documentary.

Inside Adelaide Women’s Prison, a transformative process is unfolding. Over six months, a group of women – named the Songbirds – will learn the ukulele and write original songs. They will then perform alongside the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in front of 200 inmates and special guests as part of the largest concert ever staged within an Australian correctional facility. Led by Barkindji singer-songwriter Nancy Bates, this program offers more than a creative outlet to those serving time: it affords an opportunity for them to reclaim their voices and stories within a system that often silences them.

After covering a group of women who signed up to care for foster dogs in her one-hour documentary Prisoners and Pups, Shalom Almond once more leans on her characteristically sensitive directorial eye to craft this compelling portrait of resilience within prison walls. Against the backdrop of rising incarceration rates for Australian women – a trend that disproportionately affects First Nations women – Almond follows her subjects’ individual journeys as they rediscover their confidence and self-worth, resulting in an urgent and inspirational account that later gained accolades at the Adelaide and Sydney film festivals. With its rich emotional landscape and lyrical defiance, Songs Inside is a stirring testament to the power of music as a tool for change.

“Finding hope and redemption through performing, the doco focuses on the women as they deal with personal struggles, traumas and addictions … emotional, thought-provoking and ultimately uplifting.” – The Note