For a number of years now, Venezuela has been the scene of one of the largest refugee movements in the world. The corrupt Maduro regime has driven millions of individuals to seek a better life abroad. In MY FATHER’S PRISON, filmmaker Iván Andrés Simonovis Pertíñez, from his life in exile in Berlin, grapples with his own family history, using video recordings to trace the fate of his father, the former police chief of Caracas sentenced to 30 years in the infamous prison “El Helicoide” following the fatal shooting of anti-Chavez protestors at a demonstration. When the prison sentence, which his wife Bony, acting as her husband’s committed lawyer, was unable to stave off in the politically motivated trial, is converted into house arrest after a long period of struggle, in response to international pressure, the family plans a daring escape.

Iván Andrés Simonovis Pertiñez is a Venezuelan filmmaker exiled in Berlin/Germany. His work focuses on political persecution and exile. He has a degree in communication sciences from the University of Marburg/Germany and a Masters degree in film from the Free University of Berlin. His documentary shorts for the web, A LA DERIVA, DESDE EL EXILIO and CARACAS 9 DE ENERO, have appeared in international media outlets such as “El País” and “Jungle World”. In 2023, his first feature documentary MY FATHER’S PRISON was selected for the main competition at Visions du Réel in Nyon/Switzerland.

Filmography: 2015 A LA DERIVA, 2017 DESDE EL EXILIO, 2018 CARACAS 9 DE ENERO (all short films), 2023 MY FATHER’S PRISON