Upcoming documentary fundraiser & launch party, special guest Damien Echols

DPAtty

Longtime fan here (TC # 167xxx), although somewhat rare poster. But this one's personal. For those of you with any interest in matters involving the death penalty in the United States, please know there is a new feature documentary in the midst of production entitled The Penalty. The film is scheduled for release in early 2016, and it's focused on the death penalty as a story of the human cost the penalty imposes, on everyone involved. The filmmakers, Will Francome and Mark Pizzey along with producer Laura Schacham and Executive Producer Christopher Hird, are trying to generate buzz (and continued funding) for the project at four events over the next several days. In the U.S., there is one in San Francisco at Trou Normand (Nov. 9), one in New York at Lair (Nov. 12), and one in Washington D.C. at Busboys & Poets (Nov. 13). (I'm hoping to attend the D.C. event, so if any of you make it out, find me and introduce yourself. It will become apparent who I am.)

For those of you in the UK, there's an event in London on November 6.

Each event will feature clips of the film, along with q&a with one of the directors and the producer. Each event will also feature a guest speaker. Of note for our Pearl Jam family, Damien Echols will be the featured guest speaker at the New York event. The events are free to attend. If you're in the area of any of the events, please swing by and show your support for this very worthy project, and, of course, spread the word!

And if you're not able to attend any of the events, but want to help crowdfund completion of the film, you can go here to drop a few coins in the Kickstarter bucket: http://bit.ly/PenKick

Here is a two-minute trailer

Complete event details and descriptions available here: thepenaltyfilm.com/news/
London event details here
San Francisco event details here
New York event details here
Washington, D.C. event details here

Additional details about the film, the filmmakers, etc. at www.thepenaltyfilm.com
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DPAtty

*bump* in advance of San Francisco event on November 9.

dignin

Thanks for the heads up.

Thirty Bills Unpaid

This looks very interesting.

I'm still a proponent for the DP in certain cases, but I am more than convinced the current methodology demands a multitude of changes within every phase of the process (from trial to the actual execution).

brianlux

Sounds like an excellent project, DPAtty. Thanks for the heads up.

DPAtty

*Bump* in advance of the New York event on Wednesday evening.

DPAtty

*Bump* in advance of the event in D.C. tonught. Hope to see some of you there!

know1

I'm against the death penalty in all situations...but I doubt a fundraiser will have much effect. I'd love to see how all the money gets spent.

DPAtty

Actually, the Kickstarter effort can have a massive effect. Any little bit helps the film get made, because the filmmakers are doing it pro bono--every dollar raised will go directly into making the film itself. The clips I saw the other night are really powerful. They are about halfway done with filming. The Kickstarter campaign is aiming to raise $30,000. The math behind it straightforward: they estimate that they will need 6 more filming trips to get everything they need, and each filming trip w/ two people costs about $5000. And perhaps most important, you can pick up some sweet swag if you drop some coin into the Kickstarter bucket, all of which was donated to the effort. At least do this member of the Jamily a solid and click the link to check it out! bit.ly/PenKick
And then spread the word.