Held inside a notorious prison among some of California's most dangerous felons, the San Quentin Film Festival is not your typical Hollywood affair.

Red-carpet interviews take place just yards (meters) away from a now dormant execution chamber where hundreds of death-row inmates met grisly ends.

Convicted murderers sit alongside famous actors and journalists, applauding films made by their fellow inmates.

Among them is Ryan Pagan, serving 77 years for first-degree murder.

"I always wanted to be an actor -- but unfortunately that's not the life I ended up living," explains Pagan, prison tattoos peeking out from the short sleeves of his jailhouse-issue blue shirt.

His film "The Maple Leaf," made behind bars, is competing for best narrative short film -- a category only for currently or

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