A Hard Name

A Hard Name is a 2009 documentary film by Alan Zweig that explores the lives of ex-convicts.^[1]

A Hard Name
Directed by	Alan Zweig
Produced by	Kristina McLaughlin Michael McMahon
Cinematography	Alan Zweig
Edited by	Randy Zimmer
Production company	Primitive Entertainment
Release date	May 3, 2009 (2009-05-03) (Hotdocs Film Festival)
Running time	100 minutes
Country	Canada
Language	English

In the film, Zweig interviews seven ex-convicts about their times in prison and their lives on the outside.^[2] The men talk about insights they have gained about their lives, including how childhood abuse led to a life of crime. Film subjects include one man who stabbed fellow inmate Clifford Olson 21 times, before Olson committed his serial killings.^[3]

Another of the film's subjects was abused as a child while a resident at the Mount Cashel Orphanage in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. A Hard Name ends with archival television footage of him performing, playing the guitar and singing for other young residents of the home.^[4]

Zweig admitted to be intimidated about doing these interviews:

"[...] Intimidated, I guess. Less by their danger and more by a male competitive thing, in a way…they’re going to see through me. They’re going to see that if I went to jail, I’d be an easy mark. I’m not as tough as them. I haven’t survived what they’ve survived and they’re just going to dismiss me as a weak citizen.”

However, the ex-convicts interviewed were surprisingly open to Zweig and allowed themselves to be shown as vulnerable.^[2]

Release

A Hard Name premiered May 3, 2009 at the Royal Cinema in Toronto.^[2] The film received the Genie Award for Best Feature Length Documentary at the 30th Genie Awards in 2010.^[1] It was also chosen as one of the top ten audience favourites at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.^[5]