OSCAR'S HOTTEST PARTY

04/01/1999 at 12:00 AM EST

The Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola was the scene of the most exclusive Oscar party in the world. As Hollywood celebrated Sunday night, the men who starred in the documentary "The Farm" -- about the life of six inmates inside one of the nation's toughest prisons -- as well as its inmate co-director Wilbert Rideau gathered inside a cinder-block room to watch the ceremonies on a prison TV. Alas, "The Farm" failed to capture the Oscar. As Rideau said Monday: "We celebrated just the same. That's the thing about prison, you take your celebrations anytime and anywhere you can." Rideau has been at the prison for 38 years for murdering a bank teller in his youth. He is an award-winning prison journalist who has written a book and edits the prison magazine, The Angolite.