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EXCLUSIVE: MTV Documentary Films’ Oscar-contender I Am Ready, Warden, directed by Smriti Mundhra, will premiere on Paramount+ November 22. The short documentary, about a death row inmate seeking the possibility of redemption as his execution date approaches, earned its latest award over the weekend at the Woodstock Film Festival.
The project reunites MTV Documentary Films with Mundhra; they teamed up for the 2019 short documentary St. Louis Superman, which earned the first Academy Award nomination for MTV’s nonfiction banner. It also brought the first Oscar nom to Mundhra and her fellow director on that film, Sami Khan.
I Am Ready, Warden, which premiered earlier this year at Montana’s Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, “tells the harrowing and emotionally charged story of John Henry Ramirez, a man convicted of murder and sentenced to death in Texas,” according to a release. “Through his time on death row, the film offers a rare and intimate glimpse into his attempts to seek redemption and reconciliation. To gain access to the Texas prison system, Mundhra collaborated with journalist Keri Blakinger, whose New York Times Magazine article ‘The Dungeons and Dragons Players of Death Row’ was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.”
Mundhra’s credits include two hit Netflix series — Indian Matchmaking and Jewish Matchmaking – and the Hulu series Muslim Matchmaker.
“I Am Ready, Warden is the toughest film I’ve ever made, requiring months of work to gain the trust of the protagonists and access to the most painful time of their lives,” Mundhra said in a statement. “It explores the moral complexity of a polarizing topic — capital punishment — with scenes that will leave viewers on either side of this ideological divide questioning their beliefs and finding empathy where they least expect it.”
Doc legend Sheila Nevins, who chose St. Louis Superman for MTV Documentary Films’ slate in 2019, serves as an executive producer of I Am Ready, Warden, alongside fellow EPs Nina L. Diaz and Liza Burnett Fefferman of MTV Documentary Films. Many of the films Nevins has championed, going back to her time heading HBO Documentary Films, have been noted for their humanist thrust.
Speaking of I Am Ready, Warden, Nevins observed, “This film asks the question – what if the man on death row isn’t the same man who committed the crime 20 years ago? And, is the pain and fury of the victim’s son ameliorated by the execution of the man who killed his father?”
I Am Ready, Warden earned a nomination as Best Short Documentary last week for the Critics Choice Documentary Awards. It followed that up by being named to the DOC NYC short list of the year’s best short documentaries. On Saturday night, the film earned Honorable Mention for Best Short Documentary at the 25th Woodstock Film Festival.
I Am Ready, Warden is directed by Smriti Mundhra and produced by Maya Gnyp, Keri Blakinger, Nina Anand Aujla, and Smriti Mundhra. Cinematography is by Rafael Roy; the film was edited by Dan Sadowsky and Jennifer Jennifer Tiexiera. The music is by Amanda Jones.
MTV Documentary Films is also contending for Oscar recognition this year with a pair of feature documentaries, including Death Without Mercy, directed by Oscar nominee Waad Al-Kateab, and Black Box Diaries, directed by Shiori Itō. The latter film screens Tuesday as part of Deadline’s For the Love of Docs virtual even series (you can RSVP for that here).
