"Jail Time Records” Brings a Cameroon Prison Recording Studio to Tribeca

On Saturday, June 6, Artists Equity and Jail Time Production premiered “Jail Time Records” at AMC 19th Street as part of the 2026 Tribeca Festival, bringing to New York audiences a documentary musical rooted in one of the world’s toughest carceral settings.

The film follows recording artists emerging from inside the crammed alleyways of the Central Prison of Douala in Cameroon, where Jail Time Records became the first recording studio inside an African prison. Built around inmates-turned-artists, the documentary looks at music not as escape, but as expression, survival, and a possible path toward transformation.

Talent in attendance included directors and producers Steve Happi and Dione Roach, producer Giacomo Stucchi-Prinetti and executive producers Taika Waititi and Caitlin Alba-Rothstein.

The film’s subjects include Empereur, Stone, Transporteur and The Guide, also known as “La PJ.” “Jail Time Records” is directed by Dione Roach and Steve Happi, and produced by Roach, Happi, Giacomo Stucchi-Prinetti and Tabs Breese. Executive producers include Taika Waititi, Rita Ora, Garrett Basch, Caitlin Alba-Rothstein, and Gillian Brown. The production companies are Artists Equity and Jail Time Production.