About Calamari
Emmy Award-winning Calamari Productions specializes in exclusive docuseries, independent films and digital content for a global audience . Calamari’s unprecedented footage from inside arenas that are otherwise closed to all media and the general public is made possible via special waivers granted by Supreme Courts of the states in which the footage is captured.
Calamari has turned this trust and extraordinary camera access into unprecedented, award-winning documentary series and video content used around the globe, from television outlets and networks such as ABC, NBC, MSNBC, A&E, MTV, Dateline NBC, Hulu, Nightline, Good Morning America, 20/20, Court TV, PBS, Bio and Channel 4 (UK), to universities, state governments and advocacy organizations around the globe.
After two decades of award-winning programming, the year ahead brings all new stories, new digital frontiers and exciting new partnerships on the horizon.
Exclusive Access & Content
“Karen Grau and Calamari Productions successfully balance the privacy concerns of the participants involved with the desire to present an accurate portrayal of life in Indiana’s juvenile courtrooms. As a result of the meticulous attention to court guidelines the five members of our Court granted Ms. Grau further permission to continue filming in the juvenile courtrooms, even though all of Indiana’s trial courts are generally closed to cameras.”
~ Hon. Randall T. Shepard, Chief Justice, Indiana Supreme Court
Background: Inside Prison Segregation
What’s New?
Serving educators, students and advocates, Society Education Media offers unprecedented video access to the closed world of America’s juvenile courts, prisons and child welfare arenas. Contact us about custom collections and subscriptions for your school or organization.
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Our Work, at a Glance
YOUNG KIDS, HARD TIME
This ratings winning 2-part MSNBC documentary series follows kids who have been sentenced to decades behind bars, illuminating the reality of what it’s like to grow up inside adult prison walls. Winner of the PASS Award for outstanding documentary series.
HIDDEN AMERICA: INSIDE RIKERS ISLAND
This extraordinary ABC Diane Sawyer special goes inside one of the most notorious prisons in the U.S. The documentary has now been watched by nearly 25 million viewers on YouTube:
IN THE CHILD’S BEST INTEREST
Winner of the prestigious national Edward R. Murrow Award, Emmy Awards and a National Headliner Award, In The Child’s Best Interest takes cameras where they’ve never been before: inside America’s child abuse and neglect courts.
LAKE COUNTY JUVENILE JUSTICE
Winner of the Gracie Allen Award for Outstanding TV series & a Clarion Award for Outstanding Documentary Series, this MSNBC 6-hour series follows teens from the night of their arrest to time inside juvenile detention, to their final juvenile court hearings where one judge will determine their fate.
MTV JUVIES
An exclusive 8-episode documentary series following kids who are first-time offenders who land in juvenile detention and struggle through the stress and drama of waiting for their day in court.
THE ELKHART 4
This 2-part ABC Nightline Special highlights an unprecedented felony murder case. Cameras follow four teenage boys sentenced to 50 years in prison for their friend’s murder, even though none of them pulled the trigger that took his life.
MURDER IN ENCHANTED HILLS
An LMN documentary film following 15-year old Colt Lundy and 12-year old Paul Gingerich as they begin serving their 25-year prison sentences for the death of Lundy’s stepfather. Cablefax Program Award nominee, Best Documentary.
CRADLE TO JAIL
From the confines of American’s juvenile detention facilities and juvenile courts, where family turmoil plays out in real time, This 13-part HULU series tracks the lives of young kids going through the trauma of life in the juvenile justice system.
NO PLACE FOR A CHILD
This exclusive MSNBC two-hour Special follows five children over the course of seven years as they struggle through foster care, child welfare hearings, family upheaval and emotional distress.