West of Memphis

[Compassionate Reader]

West of Memphis is the new documentary, financed by Sir Peter Jackson and directed by Amy Berg, that will premiere on January 20, 2012, at the Sundance Film Festival. It has been discussed and the trailer posted at other places on the board. However, I think that eventually it will need its own thread. So, I'll start by posting this link to an interview with Damien and Lori done while they were in New Zealand helping Sir Peter and his life partner, Fran Walsh, put the finishing touches on this documentary. This interview gives me a lot of hope for the future. It is rather lengthy, but IMO it is well worth the time it takes to read it. Thanks to Fishmonger Dave who posted this on another site.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/52653

[JBounds]

Man I bet Damien was in awe traveling to another place in the world. This will be a moving film. Hope it comes around my neck of the woods but I doubt it will. Will buy it for sure though.

[news247]

thanks for the link! i hope to be able to see the documentary - how do we get to see things released at the sundance film festival? anyone know? sorry if my question shows too much ignorance; i really don't know

[missy_g]

It'll probably show up on HBO or the like. If it's a doc it might be released in theaters in major cities.

[Compassionate Reader]

I've read that it will go into general release (theaters all over the country) sometime in 2013. With Peter Jackson's name attached to it, it might get a lot of play. Then, my guess is that it will go to DVD. Given HBO's investment in the case through the Paradise Lost series, I think that it is a good possibility that HBO will pick it up before it goes to DVD.

[missy_g]

Our theater here isn't the greatest but there is a small theater in Gettysburg PA that always plays documentaries and more of the independently made movies. Hopefully it shows up there. I doubt it'll show up in the theater in my town.

[JBounds]

Q&A with Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh

http://www.deadline.com/2012/01/2012...nd-fran-walsh/

[Dysthymia]

The clip of West of Memphis appears to show Michael Carson recanting his testimony against Jason Baldwin. If that is indeed true, what does everyone think about him stating that he wasn't telling the truth in the Echols/Baldwin trial? Mr. Carson has been called a liar for 18 years now by WM3 supporters, so can any one believe what he says now?

[Cappuccino]

Michael Carson is a prime example of the reason why teenagers are so over represented in the annals of false convictions. They are a very high risk group for making false accusations against each other, as well as false confessions. Carson was told a tall story by his drugs counsellor while he was in juvie hall with Jason. Months later, he told a slightly taller story to his father and pretended that Jason was the source of the original story.

Carson probably never expected that story to leave his living room, but his father had other ideas. This is where an adult would have stopped it and admitted that he was exaggerating, but Carson was only 16, and already in his father's bad books. They're still childish enough at that age to be more afraid of annoying their dad than perjuring themselves in a capital trial.

But Carson is not 16 anymore, so maybe we'll get the truth out of him now.

[missy_g]

I'm thinking that some of these people NEVER realized what would happen if they didn't tell the truth and put the blame on someone who didn't commit the crime.

It's like they wanted to be famous, if even for a little bit. When it came down to the trial they were almost too "proud" to say otherwise.

The ONLY person IMO that really really regretted what he said was Jessie.

[animlzrule]

Sundance: Even if you've seen all three 'Paradise Lost' films, 'West of Memphis' casts its own dark spell

"Like so many others, I had been avidly absorbed into the world of Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky’s three superb Paradise Lost films, which add up to more than six hours of documentary material about the case. I had also watched numerous TV segments about it (like the edition of 48 Hours Mystery that aired two years ago), I had read Mara Leveritt’s excellent Devil’s Knot, and, like many another West Memphis Three junkie, I had put in my own 48 hours of sorting through evidence and conspiracy theory on the Internet. (Weirdest thing I ever found: You can listen to close to an hour of a surreptitiously taped phone conversation between John Mark Beyers and Terry Hobbs, who obviously know each other quite well, as they share tips and tales about being suspects in the case.) After all that, I had a fear that West of Memphis would turn out to be Paradise Lost 4: Beating a Dead Horse."



http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/01/2...casts-a-spell/

[animlzrule]

Entertainment Weekly interview from 1/16/12, regarding West of Memphis:


http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/01/1...memphis-three/

[Compassionate Reader]

Here's yet another interview, mainly about West of Memphis but with some interesting case-related information, too. WARNING: It's about 30 minutes long, but well worth your time. Does anyone see any "finger rolling" from Damien here? Just curious.

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/2/6...reed_death_row