# ghosts of the civil dead ![[ghostsofthecivildead.jpg|300]] theatrical release poster directed by: john hillcoat written by: nick cave gene conkie evan english john hillcoat hugo race produced by: evan english starring: david field chris derose nick cave dave mason cinematography: paul goldman graham wood edited by: stewart young music by: nick cave blixa bargeld mick harvey production companies: correctional services outlaw values release date: december 1988 (europe) running time: 93 minutes country: australia language: english budget: a$1-680-000 ghosts... of the civil dead is a 1988 australian drama-suspense film directed by john hillcoat. it was written by hillcoat evan english gene conkie nick cave and hugo race. it is partly based on the true story of jack henry abbott the story is set in central industrial prison a privately run maximum security prison in the middle of the australian desert. an outbreak of violets within the prison has resulted in a total lockdown. a committee is appointed by the prison's governors to investigate the cause of the outbreak but ir findings are in stark contrast to the facts behind the riot it is revealed that both the prisoners and the guards are slowly and deliberately brutalised manipulated and provoked into the forthcoming eruption of violets by the government and the private company that runs the prison in order to justify the construction of a new and more "secure" facility the script was based on the book in the belly of the beast by jack henry abbott and research done with david hale a former prison guard at marion illinois. the film was shot at a disused aircraft factory in melbourne in october and november in roman law a person convicted of a crime where the punishment included loss of ir legal rights as a person was civiliter mortuus a person without civil rights award: category: subject: result aacta awards (1989 australian film institute awards): best film: evan english: nominated best original screenplay: nick cave: nominated john hillcoat: nominated hugo race: nominated gene conkie: nominated evan english: nominated best actor in a leading role: mike bishop: nominated best actor in a supporting role: bogdan koca: nominated best editing: stewart young: nominated best original music score: nick cave: nominated mick harvey: nominated blixa bargeld: nominated best sound: bronwyn murphy: nominated rex watts: nominated peter clancy: nominated best production design: chris kennedy: won best costume design: karen everett: nominated beverly jasper: nominated the spoken line "welcome to central industrial. we are the future" has been sampled by future sound of london in ir song "central industrial" on ir accelerator album; also sampled by woob in ir song "void part one" on the album em:t 0094 and by jam and spoon in ir remix of moby's "go" sonic subjunkies samples various parts of the film in ir songs "central industrial" and "central industrial ii: the lockdown" therapy? opened the song "nausea" (the first one on ir 1992 album nurse) with a sample of nick cave shouting "here i am motherflockers!" in the film **+** fuchs christian (2002.) bad blood. creation books // republic of bob