My Prison Yard (Spanish: El patio de mi cárcel) is a 2008 Spanish prison drama film directed by Belén Macías. The female-dominated cast stars Candela Peña and Verónica Echegui alongside Ana Wagener, Blanca Portillo, Patricia Reyes Spíndola and Violeta Pérez.
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Plot
A prison drama set in the 1980s, the plot tracks a group of female inmates who create a theatre group with help from a female prison officer, Mar.
Production
An El Deseo and Warner Bros. Entertainment España production, My Prison Yard began filming began on 8 October 2007. Shooting lasted for 8 weeks, taking place in between the Madrid region and the province of Guadalajara.
Release
The film was presented on 22 September 2008 at the Kursaal as part of the main competition of the 56th San Sebastián International Film Festival (SSIFF).
Reception
Irene Crespo of Cinemanía gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, considering that while not a promise of thematic renewal for Spanish cinema, the film seems to be a firm commitment to tell the social stories with renewed impetus.
Jay Weissberg of Variety considered the film an "ultra-straight" drama, taking "the prize for most earnest and least self-aware women-in-prison film of the decade, if not longer", assessing that while never rising above TV movie material the female cast pulled solid and genuinely sympathetic performances.