[act-ma] 5/7 Death penalty film series starts (part 1 of 5)

[Scott Langley]

Wednesday, May 7 is the first film in the Lucy Parson Center's Death Penalty
Film Series

5 Films in 5 Weeks - May 7, 14, 21, 28 and June 4
With filmmakers present at several of the screenings

All films will be shown at 7:00 pm at the Lucy Parsons bookstore,
549 Columbus Ave, South End, Boston, 02118.  (617) 267-6272

Free snacks, food, beer/wine provided.

=======================================
Wednesday, May 7th at 7:00 pm
=======================================

Love Lived on Death Row (2007)
1 hour 24 minutes

***Boston premiere!***

Produced and Directed by Linda Booker.
Additional footage contributor Scott Langley in attendance.

Love Lived on Death Row tells the story of the four Syriani siblings
whose father was sentenced to die for the murder of their mother in 1990
and Meg Eggleston, who became their father's friend and spiritual
advisor through letters to him in prison. Orphaned and estranged, the
Syriani children lived with hate, anger and confusion as the man they
could only refer to as 'Him Him' lived on North Carolina's death row.
But in 2004 they collectively decided to visit him in prison, seeking
answers so they could move on with their adult lives. What transpired
that day was a miracle of forgiveness followed by a journey of healing,
restoring family memories and then a battle for his clemency. Love Lived
on Death Row's portrait of a family torn apart by tragedy and reunited
by another impending tragedy is a powerful examination of not only the
healing process, but also of the role capital punishment plays in
serving justice. www.lovelivedondeathrow.com

In attendance will be photojournalist and activist Scott Langley,
Amnesty International State Death Penalty Abolition Coordinator for
Massachusetts and North Carolina.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
For MBTA and driving directions:
http://www.lucyparsons.org/directions.php.
(note that parking is not easy to come by on the streets)
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Sponsored by the Lucy Parsons Center, Amnesty International (Northeast
Regional Office and Local Group 133 of Somerville), Mass. Citizens
Against the Death Penalty Fund, and Murder Victims‚ Families for Human
Rights.

For more info, contact Scott Langley: scott at langleycreations.com or
617-262-4262


=======================================================
FULL SCHEDULE OF FILMS:
5/7 - Love Lived on Death Row *Boston Premiere*
5/14 - Step by Step: A Journey of Hope *Boston Premiere*
5/21 - At the Death House Door *Special Screening*
5/28 - Thanatos Rx: the Death Penalty Debate in America
6/4 - Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story
========================================================


DESCRIPTIONS OF FILMS:

=======================================
Wednesday, May 7th at 7:00 pm
=======================================

Love Lived on Death Row (2007)
***Boston premiere!***
Produced and Directed by Linda Booker.
Additional footage contributor Scott Langley in attendance.
1 hour 24 minutes

Love Lived on Death Row tells the story of the four Syriani siblings
whose father was sentenced to die for the murder of their mother in 1990
and Meg Eggleston, who became their father's friend and spiritual
advisor through letters to him in prison. Orphaned and estranged, the
Syriani children lived with hate, anger and confusion as the man they
could only refer to as 'Him Him' lived on North Carolina's death row.
But in 2004 they collectively decided to visit him in prison, seeking
answers so they could move on with their adult lives. What transpired
that day was a miracle of forgiveness followed by a journey of healing,
restoring family memories and then a battle for his clemency. Love Lived
on Death Row's portrait of a family torn apart by tragedy and reunited
by another impending tragedy is a powerful examination of not only the
healing process, but also of the role capital punishment plays in
serving justice. www.lovelivedondeathrow.com

In attendance will be photojournalist and activist Scott Langley,
Amnesty International State Death Penalty Abolition Coordinator for
Massachusetts and North Carolina.

=======================================
Wednesday, May 14th at 7:00 pm
=======================================

Step by Step: A Journey of Hope (2007)
***Boston premiere!***
A Film By Micki Dickoff, in attendance from Los Angeles
1 hour 22 minutes


„If your child was murdered, you‚d want the killer executed,‰ is the
argument made by death penalty supporters calculated to stop the debate
in its tracks. Step by Step takes viewers on an emotional journey of
hope with murder victims‚ family members on their 17 day march through
the state of Texas trying to change hearts and minds with messages of
forgiveness, reconciliation and appropriate alternatives to the death
penalty. Their viewpoint, formed out of personal grief and loss, is
difficult to dismiss even by the most ardent advocates of execution.

Members of the Journey tell their heart wrenching stories at each stop
along the way, in the streets and at rallies, in churches and schools,
at vigils and protests outside the death chamber, and in debates with
death penalty supporters. The voices of Journey participants compel
listeners to reexamine their views about the death penalty at a gut
level, faced by people who have suffered the unimaginable and yet
believe that killing and vengeance are never the answer. This
feature-length documentary provides a provocative look into the heart of
the death penalty debate, featuring the stories of many affected by
violent crime and the punishment of death.

Step by Step: A Journey of Hope takes the death penalty debate to
another level, giving us all a different way to look at justice and
punishment, forgiveness and retribution and the value of life over death
in our search for ways to end the cycle of violence. The film was
selected for screening at the Non Violence International Film Festival
in Canada and at the Global Peace Film Festival in Orlando.
www.journeyofhope.org/pages/micki_dickoff.htm

In attendance will be director Micki Dickoff, who has dedicated her life
and her art - to helping others. Her films on AIDS were among the very
first to address that epidemic.  Since proving that her friend had been
wrongfully convicted of a crime she absolutely did not commit and thus
freeing her from prison, Micki has been a tireless advocate for ending
the death penalty and freeing others who have been wrongfully convicted.
 Her production company, Pro Bono Productions, is located in Los
Angeles.

=======================================
Wednesday, May 21st at 7:00 pm
=======================================

At the Death House Door (2008)
Directed by Peter Gilbert and Steve James
1 hour and 34 minutes

***This Lucy Parson‚s Center screening was specially selected for a
preview before the Independent Film Channel‚s world television premiere
on May 29!***

A personal and intimate look at the death penalty in the state of Texas
through the eyes of Pastor Carroll Pickett, who served 15 years as the
death house chaplain to the infamous "Walls" prison unit in Huntsville.
During Pickett's remarkable career journey, he presided over 95
executions, including the world‚s first lethal injection. After each
execution, Pickett recorded an audiotape account of his trip to the
death chamber.

The film is also an investigation of the wrongful death of Carlos
DeLuna, who was executed in Texas on December 7, 1989, after prosecutors
ignored evidence inculpating a man, who bragged to friends about
committing the crimes of which DeLuna was convicted.  Carlos De Luna was
a convict Pickett counseled and whose execution troubled Pickett more
than any other. He firmly believed De Luna was innocent, and the film
tracks the investigative efforts of a team of Chicago Tribune reporters
who have turned up evidence that strongly suggests he was.

>From award-winning directors Steve James ("Hoop Dreams") and Peter
Gilbert ("Vietnam: Long Time Coming").



=======================================
Wednesday, May 28th at 7:00 pm
=======================================

Thanatos Rx: the Death Penalty Debate in America (2001)
Produced and Directed by Maryanne Galvin, in attendance
59 minutes

Thanatos Rx presents an even-handed, nonpartisan examination of the many
facets of the death penalty debate in America. Thanatos Rx journeys
beyond myopic sound bites and static polls to a deeply personal
exploration of the debate.

Interspersed with powerful and rare archival footage and original
photographs are exclusive interviews with those most touched by Capital
Punishment. Innocence, deterrence, retribution and closure for families
of homicide victims are some of the topics examined through the eyes of
a "volunteer" on Federal Death Row and a murderer who narrowly escaped
the electric chair in Massachusetts.

Interviews with families of murder victims, District Attorneys and legal
scholars at prestigious law schools, The Innocence Project and Amnesty
International illustrate the emotional complexities of the issue.

In attendance will be producer and director Maryanne Galvin, an
independent filmmaker, who holds both an MFA from Emerson College,
Boston and a doctorate in psychology from UMASS/ Amherst.



=======================================
Wednesday, June 4 at 7:00 pm
=======================================

Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story (2004)
1 hour and 33 minutes

Redemption tells the story of Stan "Tookie" Williams, founder of the
Crips L.A. street gang. Story follows his fall into gangbanging, his
prison term, and his work writing children's novels encouraging peace
and anti-violence resolutions, which earned him multiple Nobel Peace
Prize nominations. After exhausting all forms of appeal, Tookie was
executed by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison, California; he
was declared dead on December 13, 2005 at 12:35 a.m. PST (08:35 UTC).
Williams is the 12th person to be executed by California since it
reinstated the death penalty in 1977.


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