The Grand Illusion

Part of our “Pandemic Rewind” series of films that were robbed of the theatrical experience.

Fox Rich is a fighter. The entrepreneur, abolitionist and mother of six boys has spent the last two decades campaigning for the release of her husband, Rob G. Rich, who is serving a 60-year sentence for a robbery they both committed in the early 90s in a moment of desperation. Combining the video diaries Fox has recorded for Rob over the years with intimate glimpses of her present-day life, director Garrett Bradley paints a mesmerizing portrait of the resilience and radical love necessary to prevail over the endless separations of the country’s prison-industrial complex.

Nominee, Best Documentary Feature, 2021 Oscars
Winner, Best Director, 2020 Sundance Film Festival

“A masterpiece.” Filmmaker Magazine

“A fiercely engaging film.” Wendy Ide, Screen International

“Substantive and stunning, the documentary Time delivers on the title’s promise of the monumental as well as the personal.” Lisa Kennedy, The New York Times

“one of the most essential films of the year…” K. Austin Collins, Rolling Stone

“A poetic rumination on atonement and endurance, one that chops up and reorders time itself to give us a powerful portrait of a woman who refuses to take no for an answer. Ty Burr, The Boston Globe