Description:

True Conviction (Jamie Meltzer, 2017, USA, DCP, 84 min.)
In Person: Christopher Scott and filmmaker Jamie Meltzer

Praised by Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld, the founders and directors of the Innocence Project, Jamie Meltzer’s award-winning documentary explores the U.S. criminal justice system from a unique perspective. Christopher Scott, Johnnie Lindsey, and Steven Phillips had collectively spent 60 years in prison before being exonerated. After their releases, the trio formed a Dallas, Texas-based detective agency, focused on assisting others they believe to be wrongfully convicted of crimes. Meltzer chronicles the endless, mundane tasks necessary to unearth new leads; the wrenching, maybe-true-maybe-not stories of prisoners looking for help; and some unexpected moments of drama, as the three men, led by Scott, work to free others who were caught up in a system that too-often settles for resolution rather than justice. A “surprising and profound experience”—Meredith Alloway, Filmmaker Magazine

(FREE)

Cosponsored with Northwestern University's Northwestern University MFA in Documentary Media program, the Center on Wrongful Convictions, and Medill - Northwestern University Integrated Marketing Communications program. With generous support from the Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities.

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This film is part of the Block Cinema series
Watching the Detectives - May 3-May 19

Technological advances have put video cameras in millions of pockets, but the American justice system too often remains opaque to outside scrutiny. Documentary filmmakers take on this challenge in this film series pairing vital recent films with classic and archival works.