A Hard Name is a 2009 documentary film

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 by Alan Zweig

Alan Zweig

Alan Zweig is a Toronto documentary filmmaker known for often using film to explore his own life.In his 2000 film Vinyl, Zweig explores what drives people to become record collectors...

 that explores the lives of ex-convicts.

In the film, Zweig interviews seven ex-convicts about their times in prison and their lives on the outside. The men talk about insights they have gained about their lives, including how childhood abuse led to a life of crime. Film subjects include one man who stabbed fellow inmate Clifford Olson

Clifford Olson

Clifford Robert Olson, Jr. was a convicted Canadian serial killer who confessed to murdering two children and nine youths in the early 1980s.-Murders:...

 21 times, before Olson committed his serial killings.

Another of the film's subjects was abused as a child while a resident at the Mount Cashel Orphanage

Mount Cashel Orphanage

The Mount Cashel Orphanage is a former Canadian orphanage that was operated by the Congregation of Christian Brothers. It was located in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador....

 in St. John's. A Hard Name ends with archival television footage of him performing, playing the guitar and singing for other young residents of the home.

Zweig admitted to be intimidated about doing these interviews:

However, the ex-convicts interviewed were surprisingly open to Zweig and allowed themselves to be shown as vulnerable.

Release

A Hard Name premiered May 3, 2009 at the Royal Cinema in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

. The film received the Genie Award

Genie Award

Genie Awards are given out to recognize the best of Canadian cinema by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. From 1949-1979, the awards were named the Canadian Film Awards...

 for best feature-length documentary. It was also chosen as one of the top ten audience favourites at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.