About the Screening
Please join us Wednesday, November 2nd, for the final installment of DocuClub LA in 2016 with a screening of True Conviction by director Jamie Meltzer and editor Jeff Gilbert. The film is a co-production of ITVS, with the support of the Sundance Institute, MacArthur Foundation, Gucci Tribeca Documentary Film Fund, Impact Partners, The Filmmaker Fund, Catapult Film Fund, and San Francisco Film Society.
Following the screening, we will be joined by Director Jamie Meltzer for a feedback discussion moderated by Sundance's Labs and Artist Support Director, Kristin Feeley.
Synopsis
There’s a new detective agency in Dallas, Texas, started by a group of exonerated men, with decades in prison served between them. True Conviction follows three Dallas County exonerees as they rebuild their lives and families, learn to investigate cases, work to support each other, and campaign to fix the criminal justice system.
Christopher Scott was released from prison after serving 13 years of a life sentence for a murder he didn’t commit. This sounds like a nightmare, but it’s more common than you think. More than 30 people like Chris have been exonerated in Dallas County. Most of them are black men locked up in their youth who emerged in middle age looking for a way to make sense of what happened. One day at an exoneree support group meeting, an idea came to Chris: exonerees could become detectives, find other wrongfully convicted people sitting in prison, investigate their cases and prove their innocence. True Conviction follows Chris and his team (Steven Phillips and Johnnie Lindsey) as they work to realize this dream of becoming detectives, while also trying to understand their own tangled and unjust experiences. On its face, this is a simple, hopeful story about a group of exonerees seeking redemption, attempting to right the wrongs they experienced. However, underneath the narrative surface, this is a story of struggle and long odds. Chris Scott has faith that he can make a difference in the criminal justice system, but that faith is challenged as he and his fellow detectives come up against the almost impossible task of freeing a wrongfully convicted person. They have to track down eyewitnesses, try to find the real perpetrators of these crimes, and challenge the original investigations. In these complex cases, they could do many things correctly but have one missing piece, and a man could still be trapped behind bars. It’s daunting, but throughout the challenges, they remain committed to investigating cases until they free an innocent person.
Doors open at 7:00 pm. Screening, followed by a moderated feedback discussion with the filmmakers - 7:30 pm - 10:00 pm. Drinks will be available for a modest suggested donation.
Space is very limited so please update your RSVP if you can't make it so we can have a real count of the attendees. Admission not guaranteed, all RSVP's are first-come, first served.