Thursday, March 28, 2024

West Memphis Three Coming to NY Film Festival on Monday

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As I wrote and reported first, the West Memphis Three are coming to the New York Film Festival on Monday. They’re doing a day of press for HBO and then joining director Joe Berlinger for the premiere of “Paradise Lost: Purgatory.” Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky have been working on the West Memphis 3 story since 1996, and this is third film about them. A fourth film will follow that will tell the story of their release. The three men– Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley Jr –were released in August  after 17 years in prison for crimes they didn’t commit. But because the crimes happened in Arkansas they were railroaded, subjected to a kangaroo court, local politics, and then made to admit their guilt so they could get out of jail. Baldwin accepted this agreement because Echols was on death row and would have been killed before a new trial could have absolved them all thanks to DNA evidence.

Here’s the original story in case Deadline Hollywood tries to snag it: http://www.showbiz411.com/2011/08/20/west-memphis-3-story-may-bring-released-defendants-to-new-york-film-festival

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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