Second Runner Up - Mr. Super Juice -Mike Wellin
Runner Up - Blue (not here)
Winner - Mr. Hublot
Sunday, December 15, 2013
AIFF 2013: Gala Awards Dinner
This is the Iranian table here to cheer on Pourya and Mona who did Everything Is Fine Here.
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| Pourya and Mona |
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| Lambing Season's Jeannie Donohoe (r) with biggest fans |
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| Mr. Super Juicer's Mike Wellins, Lisa Freeman, Jasper Thune |
AIFF 2013: 7 Cajas Was Great! Awards Ceremony Starts Soon
7 Cajas (7 Boxes) was a terrific action thriller - but it all takes place in the market area of Asunción, Paraguay. Most of the characters are presented in a way that their involvement in criminal activities is understandable if not excusable. All the loose ends get tied together - even ones I didn't realize were loose until they got resolved. A lot of fun.
I'm at Organic Oasis and folks are eating and the awards should start around 6 or 6:15pm. I'll post and tweet - @whisper2world and #ancff.
I'm at Organic Oasis and folks are eating and the awards should start around 6 or 6:15pm. I'll post and tweet - @whisper2world and #ancff.
AIFF 2013: Snowy Saturday Films - 'Benz', Benoit Cohen, and Matthieu Prada
We started downtown with Harlem Streetsinger, a documentary about Rev. Gary Davis, whose guitar playing was legendary. Nice piece of musical history and biography. Then to the library for Lion Ark and back downtown for Delinquent Dancers - a fun, but not quite successful Bollywood film about a group of boys who escape a detention center to take part in a televised dance contest.Then to Bear Tooth for You'll Be A Man. Each time we got back to the car, there was
another three or four inches of fresh snow to brush off.
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| 'Benz' Thamachart Siripatrachai |
'Benz' Thanachart Siripatrachai, a Thai film maker studying in New York and the creator of the charming The Words I Love has been staying with us and realized that I hadn't gotten any video of him yet. So I did at lunch between films. I'll edit it and put it up later.
Saturday's highlight for me was You'll Be A Man by Benoit Cohen who came from France with his producer Matthieu Prada for the showing. (And he'll be here for tomorrow's showing too.) Here's a bit of video of the two before the showing, talking about their arrival in Alaska.
)
Here they are after the film answering questions from a clearly enthusiastic audience at the Bear Tooth.
The discussions continued on into the lobby.
I was hoping to get to bed before 2am today, but I've missed that deadline. I liked You'll Be A Man a lot, but I want to process it a bit before I write about it. It does play again Sunday - at 1:30 at AK Exp.
[UPDATE March 11, 2014 Youtube video replaces Viddler]
AIFF 2013: Sunday! Almost Over! What To See?
I think having just one car between us AND having one of the film makers staying with us made things a little more hectic this year. But there were lots of good films, lots of visiting film makers, but not enough time.
I'm headed for 7 Cajas at 11:30 am - I haven't seen this Paraguayan film that was one of the biggest Paraguayan films ever. People say it's good.
We saw You'll Be A Man Saturday night and it's a very good film. The film maker, Benoit Cohen, said, after the showing that it had a small release in France - but it was too normal to be a success in France. It's doing much better on the US festival circuit. Their characters, as troubled as they were, weren't committing adultery or incest. It is a very warm and touching film that explores relationships that are feared today because of the potential for abuse, but can be (and in this movie are) caring and needed. Very worth watching, especially so if you also understand French. The Director and Producer are in town and should be at the showing Sunday at AK Exp at 1:30pm. You can see a very short video of Benoit and Matthieu describing their arrival in Alaska.
Icebound was the opening night film - a documentary about the 1924 serum run to Nome. Think you know all there is to know? This film bursts a lot of myths about the run - including the Balto myth.
Lion Ark plays again at 3pm. You can watch my video with the director Tim Phillips here. I made this earlier in LA. It documents the rescue of 25 lions from illegal circuses in Bolivia.
Awards Ceremony starts at 4pm at the Organic Oasis. I'll try to blog them live and maybe tweet too. (@whisper2world, #ancff).
Here's the official schedule for SUNDAY DECEMBER 15, 2013:
I'm headed for 7 Cajas at 11:30 am - I haven't seen this Paraguayan film that was one of the biggest Paraguayan films ever. People say it's good.
We saw You'll Be A Man Saturday night and it's a very good film. The film maker, Benoit Cohen, said, after the showing that it had a small release in France - but it was too normal to be a success in France. It's doing much better on the US festival circuit. Their characters, as troubled as they were, weren't committing adultery or incest. It is a very warm and touching film that explores relationships that are feared today because of the potential for abuse, but can be (and in this movie are) caring and needed. Very worth watching, especially so if you also understand French. The Director and Producer are in town and should be at the showing Sunday at AK Exp at 1:30pm. You can see a very short video of Benoit and Matthieu describing their arrival in Alaska.
Icebound was the opening night film - a documentary about the 1924 serum run to Nome. Think you know all there is to know? This film bursts a lot of myths about the run - including the Balto myth.
Lion Ark plays again at 3pm. You can watch my video with the director Tim Phillips here. I made this earlier in LA. It documents the rescue of 25 lions from illegal circuses in Bolivia.
Awards Ceremony starts at 4pm at the Organic Oasis. I'll try to blog them live and maybe tweet too. (@whisper2world, #ancff).
Here's the official schedule for SUNDAY DECEMBER 15, 2013:
|
Documentary Program | 94 min.
screens with...
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Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater | ||||
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Juan Carlos Maneglia | Feature | 100 min.
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Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater | ||||
|
Documentary Program | 85 min.
screens with...
|
Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater | ||||
|
Benoit Cohen 2013 | Feature | 87 min.
** Note: Filmmaker attending
|
Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater | ||||
|
Daniel Anker 2013 | Documentary | 100 min.
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Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center | ||||
|
Tim Phillips 2013 | Documentary | 97 min.
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Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater | ||||
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Awards Gala | 210 min.
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Organic Oasis | ||||
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Best of Fest | 120 min.
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Bear Tooth Theatre |
Saturday, December 14, 2013
AIFF 2013: Sarah Knight Talks About Her Film Vino Veritas
It's 1:30 am Saturday. I saw Vino Veritas last night and I really want to be in bed now, but I have some video to share with folks who are thinking they might want to see this film.
It's a good film. It's in the Virginia Woolf genre - two couples together in a house and they start talking more candidly than normal. It's gentler than Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and last year's festival example of this genre, Between Us.
It's much too soon for me to write about this film. I need to think about it more. For example, Benz (who directed The Words I Love) asked me if I thought it made a difference that it was on Halloween. Yes, if it weren't Halloween we wouldn't learn that Claire had no identity of her own, except when she won the Halloween costume award each year. But as I thought about his question more, I realized that the three characters who took the truth serum wine, were all dressed in costumes that were not who they really were. The one who did NOT take the truth serum was dressed in his real life doctor gown.
I need more time to tease out insights like that.
Vino Veritas plays today (Saturday, Dec. 14, 2013) at 4pm at the Alaska Experience Theater. Bring your spouse.
In the meantime, you can watch the video of Sarah.
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| Knight (r) talking to audience member after showing |
It's much too soon for me to write about this film. I need to think about it more. For example, Benz (who directed The Words I Love) asked me if I thought it made a difference that it was on Halloween. Yes, if it weren't Halloween we wouldn't learn that Claire had no identity of her own, except when she won the Halloween costume award each year. But as I thought about his question more, I realized that the three characters who took the truth serum wine, were all dressed in costumes that were not who they really were. The one who did NOT take the truth serum was dressed in his real life doctor gown.
I need more time to tease out insights like that.
Vino Veritas plays today (Saturday, Dec. 14, 2013) at 4pm at the Alaska Experience Theater. Bring your spouse.
In the meantime, you can watch the video of Sarah.
AIFF 2013: Saturday- Oh Dear Too, Too Many Choices
First, sorry for pointing people toward the Inlet Towers yesterday for the Martini Matinee. It was at the Bear Tooth and well attended, including a number of film makers.
There's a lot on for Saturday that I haven't seen. The links and times and locations are on the schedule below from the Festival site. I'll try to point out films that I've seen and that I've liked:
Family Program
If you have kids: Go to Loussac either at 11 or 1 for the family program. Actually, I'd say it doesn't matter when you get there after 11 because the program repeats at 1.
Lion Ark
Also at Loussac will be Lion Ark which I saw in LA. A good action packed (in a good way) story about rescuing lions from illegal Bolivian circuses. You can see the short video I did in LA with the director Tim Phillips here.
Tales From The Organ Trade
This documentary looks at the world market for human kidneys. See a whole post on this film here. This film shows a lot of sides and raises the ethical dilemmas that make this so tricky.
Jonah and Life are two shorts that made an impression on me in the Global Village Shorts Program at 1:30pm.
Coffee Time, Slomo, and The Words I Love are all the kinds of films you want to see at a film festival. They're in Quirky Shorts (a good descriptor) at 2 pm at Anchorage Community Works - 349 E Ship Creek Ave.
Reel Life and Life are in the Reel/Real Life Short Narrative Fiction program at 3pm at AK Exp. theater. I'm trying to get up some video with Laurence Relton I did today. [It's up here now.] He directed Reel Life which is definitely worth seeing. I haven't seen the rest of this program so I can't comment.
Vino Veritas is a feature of the Virginia Woolf genre - two couple have dinner together and start peeling the layers of their relationships. This one differs from others in this genre in that none of the characters is actually mean. This is a good serious film that couples ought to see. I recorded some video last night of director Sarah Knight.
I'm headed for To Be A Man at 8pm, which I haven't seen yet. I've heard good things. It's a French movie about the relationship between a 20 year old man and a 10 year old boy. The film maker is scheduled to be here at 8pm at the Bear Tooth.
Not sure how much that helps. Lots of good things to see and unless you can clone yourself, it's hard to get it all in. Though you can sneak a look at the Sunday program to see if what you want to see plays Sunday again.
Saturday, December 14th
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|||||
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Family Program | 88 min.
screens with...
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Wilda Marston Theatre at Z. J. Loussac Public Library | ||||
|
Documentary Program | 95 min.
screens with...
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Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater | ||||
|
Documentary Program | 98 min.
|
Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater | ||||
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Trevor Laurence, Simeon Hutner 2013 | Documentary | 77 min.
|
Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater | ||||
|
Gay-La | 120 min.
screens with...
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Mad Myrna's | ||||
|
Family Program | 88 min.
Same as the 11 am showing - see above
|
Wilda Marston Theatre at Z. J. Loussac Public Library | ||||
|
Shorts Program | 92 min.
screens with...
|
Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater | ||||
|
Documentary Program | 68 min.
screens with...
|
Anchorage Community Works | ||||
|
Shorts Program | 98 min.
screens with...
|
Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater | ||||
|
Tim Phillips 2013 | Documentary | 97 min.
** Note: Filmmaker attending
|
Wilda Marston Theatre at Z. J. Loussac Public Library | ||||
|
Scott Walker 2013 | Feature | 105 min.
|
Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center | ||||
|
Sarah Knight 2012 | Feature | 96 min.
|
Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater | ||||
|
Documentary Program, Snowdance | 90 min.
screens with...
|
Anchorage Community Works | ||||
|
samit kakkad 2012 | Feature | 94 min.
|
Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater | ||||
|
Documentary Program | 96 min.
screens with...
|
Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater | ||||
|
Shorts Program | 240 min.
|
Anchorage Community Works | ||||
|
Shorts Program | 112 min.
screens with...
|
Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater | ||||
|
Benoit Cohen 2013 | Feature | 87 min.
** Note: Filmmaker attending
|
Bear Tooth Theatre | ||||
Friday, December 13, 2013
AIFF 2013: Lion Ark - Film Makers In Anchorage for Sat and Sun Showings
I've been holding up this video til Lion Ark was about to play here in Anchorage. I got to see the film and talk to the directors when we were in LA. They are due in Anchorage for the showings Saturday (3:30pm Loussac) and Sunday (3 pm AK Exp large theater)
This is somewhat like a reality show where you watch the animal rescuers plan their attacks on the illegal circuses that have lions. You hear them discuss how they helped get the Bolivian government to pass the strongest legislation around to prevent little circuses from using animals. While some (most?) have given up their lions, there are a few outlaw circuses left.
None of this is really spoiler material because it's the telling of the story that matters. Most, if not all, of the questions at the Q&A in LA were about the content of the movie, so afterward I focused my questions more on the movie making.
There's a little bit of disturbing video of beating of animals in the film, so the younger kids probably shouldn't see this. (It's PG 13)
There are a lot of Bolivians involved in the rescue and an important part of the film for me was that a number of them were brought with the lions to Colorado at the end, to see the lions' new home.
The program says the film makers will be there Saturday, and probably they'll be at the Sunday showing but I'm not sure.
With Tim Phillips and Jan Creamer in town for Lion Ark, Will Francome for One.For.Ten, and Laurance Relton here for Reel Life, you'd think Captain Cook had made Alaska an English colony. All their films are well worth watching. Will's interviews with people who have been released from death row after their convictions were overturned can be seen at the one.for.ten website.
Laurence's wonderful short film, Reel Life, plays as part of the Reel/Real Life Short Docs program at 3pm Saturday at the AK Exp Theater.
This is somewhat like a reality show where you watch the animal rescuers plan their attacks on the illegal circuses that have lions. You hear them discuss how they helped get the Bolivian government to pass the strongest legislation around to prevent little circuses from using animals. While some (most?) have given up their lions, there are a few outlaw circuses left.
None of this is really spoiler material because it's the telling of the story that matters. Most, if not all, of the questions at the Q&A in LA were about the content of the movie, so afterward I focused my questions more on the movie making.
There's a little bit of disturbing video of beating of animals in the film, so the younger kids probably shouldn't see this. (It's PG 13)
There are a lot of Bolivians involved in the rescue and an important part of the film for me was that a number of them were brought with the lions to Colorado at the end, to see the lions' new home.
The program says the film makers will be there Saturday, and probably they'll be at the Sunday showing but I'm not sure.
With Tim Phillips and Jan Creamer in town for Lion Ark, Will Francome for One.For.Ten, and Laurance Relton here for Reel Life, you'd think Captain Cook had made Alaska an English colony. All their films are well worth watching. Will's interviews with people who have been released from death row after their convictions were overturned can be seen at the one.for.ten website.
Laurence's wonderful short film, Reel Life, plays as part of the Reel/Real Life Short Docs program at 3pm Saturday at the AK Exp Theater.
Either Someone Lied Or They Are Totally Incompetent - $22 Million More Needed For Bragaw Road Extension
There may well be a third option - besides lying and incompetence - but I haven't figured it out. This is a road that the local residents opposed in huge numbers. The several public hearings I went to opposition was 80% or more.
But DOT gave the citizens participation contract to an engineering firm - Dowl - a company that can only benefit if the road is built. If they don't benefit directly, many of the companies they regularly work with will. But nobody in the state or city sees a conflict of interest.
Despite the overwhelming public opposition of cutting a road through the greenbelt at the University of Alaska Anchorage, Dowl has come up with plans for a road. Surpirse!
But even then, the funding came only in the closing minutes of the legislature (literally) as it was tacked on to the budget.
All elected politicians representing this area of town opposed it: Elvi Gray-Jackson, Dick Training (the two assembly members representing the U-Med district) and Rep. Andy Josephson and Sen. Berta Gardner.
And now we are told, it will actually cost another $22 million. (I can't find the article where this was announced, but there is a letter to the editor today from Rep. Josephson referencing the amount.)
That's a 100% increase in the cost. That's not a minor miscalculation. That doubles the price.
Given how much these guys want to build this road, my guess is they knew all along they were severely lowballing the costs. They did say they could only build the minimal road for now with what they got. But now that minimal road will cost double what they said.
The point, I think, is to rip apart the forest land no matter what, so that the damage is done and can't be repaired and then they will slowly start adding funds to fix the problem they created. And we'll have a big nasty four lane road, without any of what they call "amenties" but I call necessities like safe and usable pedestrian and bike access and ways for the wildlife that use that area to get across the road.
And if they were really $22 million off in their calculations, then it would be clear they are much too incompetent to be trusted to carry out this project.
I'd also point out they by-passed federal assistance with this road. That lets them skip a lot of the environmental safeguards we normally would expect - especially when building through a wetlands area.
During the Watergate days, the phrase was "follow the money." I'd like to see how this money gets distributed. Which companies get contracts for how much? Which politicians get contributions from those companies? And maybe we should expand that to past projects that Dowl did the public participation process for.
Now, maybe there is a third or even fourth plausible explanation. If there is, please add it to the comments. (I expect we won't see those comments because 3rd and 4th explanations could be even worse than the ones I've identified.)
But DOT gave the citizens participation contract to an engineering firm - Dowl - a company that can only benefit if the road is built. If they don't benefit directly, many of the companies they regularly work with will. But nobody in the state or city sees a conflict of interest.
Despite the overwhelming public opposition of cutting a road through the greenbelt at the University of Alaska Anchorage, Dowl has come up with plans for a road. Surpirse!
But even then, the funding came only in the closing minutes of the legislature (literally) as it was tacked on to the budget.
All elected politicians representing this area of town opposed it: Elvi Gray-Jackson, Dick Training (the two assembly members representing the U-Med district) and Rep. Andy Josephson and Sen. Berta Gardner.
And now we are told, it will actually cost another $22 million. (I can't find the article where this was announced, but there is a letter to the editor today from Rep. Josephson referencing the amount.)
That's a 100% increase in the cost. That's not a minor miscalculation. That doubles the price.
Given how much these guys want to build this road, my guess is they knew all along they were severely lowballing the costs. They did say they could only build the minimal road for now with what they got. But now that minimal road will cost double what they said.
The point, I think, is to rip apart the forest land no matter what, so that the damage is done and can't be repaired and then they will slowly start adding funds to fix the problem they created. And we'll have a big nasty four lane road, without any of what they call "amenties" but I call necessities like safe and usable pedestrian and bike access and ways for the wildlife that use that area to get across the road.
And if they were really $22 million off in their calculations, then it would be clear they are much too incompetent to be trusted to carry out this project.
I'd also point out they by-passed federal assistance with this road. That lets them skip a lot of the environmental safeguards we normally would expect - especially when building through a wetlands area.
During the Watergate days, the phrase was "follow the money." I'd like to see how this money gets distributed. Which companies get contracts for how much? Which politicians get contributions from those companies? And maybe we should expand that to past projects that Dowl did the public participation process for.
Now, maybe there is a third or even fourth plausible explanation. If there is, please add it to the comments. (I expect we won't see those comments because 3rd and 4th explanations could be even worse than the ones I've identified.)
AIFF 2013: One.For.Ten - DNA, The Instant Replay For The Justice System
The highlight of the film festival for me so far was Thursday night at Loussac Library.
The showing was the most innovative and powerful I've seen.
The film maker, Will Francome (and his colleagues), as he explained it, determined to take a cross country trip in the US to interview people who had been exonerated of capital offenses and been released from death row.
But they jumped onto Facebook and Twitter to include their audience in developing questions for the people they were going to interview. They made their film, edited it quickly, and put it online for their FB and Twitter team to see within 24 hours.
And the 'showing' Thursday included a panel of three local leaders in the fight for justice for innocent people convicted of crime. There were ten short interviews. One or two were shown. Then the audience was invited to ask questions or comment. The panel commented. Then the next couple of films were shown.
WOW! The audience was included in making the films and in the showing. This takes AIFF into new film territory - making the audience participants, not simply passive viewers of the films. I know people will immediately, and legitimately respond that the festival has had Q&A with film makers from the beginning.
But this was more than that. At One.For.Ten the audience was involved from the beginning. Live audience reaction was part of the film experience.
And if all that weren't enough, the topic - innocent people on death row - is as powerful as you can get.
Most of you missed this. I didn't know what I was going to experience before I went. But, you can see the ten films and join into the social media discussions. The films are at the One.For.Ten website.
These stories are so compelling because they challenge the very basis of our justice system. I had so many thoughts jumping through my head.
Clearly DNA can change the court's call, just as instant replay can change a sports call. But saving an innocent man or woman wrongly convicted is far more significant than changing a referee's call. But like instant replay, it's the kind of objective evidence, that breaks through most human error. (And I'm sure there are ways to incorrectly collect, test, and interpret DNA evidence.)
I asked about the reactions of prosecutors, and, unfortunately, the answers suggested they react badly. They deny they were wrong. And, as the blogger at What Do I Know?, I'm fascinated by how people 'know' what they 'know'. And how they simply cannot see 'truths' that conflict with their own well being. I know that prosecutors dismiss the claims of innocence of inmates. Every inmate has found a way to believe he's innocent. (And I believe that many extremely guilty folks believe they're innocent, making it harder for people who really are innocent.) The irony is that while prosecutors can see these people deceive themselves, apparently they can't see it when they themselves fall for the same delusion.
So much to think about. They discussed about ten different reasons/causes for people to be falsely convicted and each of the ten films is supposed to highlight one. (Though most involve several.) Some were;
By the way, one for ten refers to stats that there is one exonerated convict for every ten executed.
Did I tell you I liked this session?
The showing was the most innovative and powerful I've seen.
The film maker, Will Francome (and his colleagues), as he explained it, determined to take a cross country trip in the US to interview people who had been exonerated of capital offenses and been released from death row.
But they jumped onto Facebook and Twitter to include their audience in developing questions for the people they were going to interview. They made their film, edited it quickly, and put it online for their FB and Twitter team to see within 24 hours.
And the 'showing' Thursday included a panel of three local leaders in the fight for justice for innocent people convicted of crime. There were ten short interviews. One or two were shown. Then the audience was invited to ask questions or comment. The panel commented. Then the next couple of films were shown.
WOW! The audience was included in making the films and in the showing. This takes AIFF into new film territory - making the audience participants, not simply passive viewers of the films. I know people will immediately, and legitimately respond that the festival has had Q&A with film makers from the beginning.
But this was more than that. At One.For.Ten the audience was involved from the beginning. Live audience reaction was part of the film experience.
And if all that weren't enough, the topic - innocent people on death row - is as powerful as you can get.
Most of you missed this. I didn't know what I was going to experience before I went. But, you can see the ten films and join into the social media discussions. The films are at the One.For.Ten website.
These stories are so compelling because they challenge the very basis of our justice system. I had so many thoughts jumping through my head.
Clearly DNA can change the court's call, just as instant replay can change a sports call. But saving an innocent man or woman wrongly convicted is far more significant than changing a referee's call. But like instant replay, it's the kind of objective evidence, that breaks through most human error. (And I'm sure there are ways to incorrectly collect, test, and interpret DNA evidence.)
I asked about the reactions of prosecutors, and, unfortunately, the answers suggested they react badly. They deny they were wrong. And, as the blogger at What Do I Know?, I'm fascinated by how people 'know' what they 'know'. And how they simply cannot see 'truths' that conflict with their own well being. I know that prosecutors dismiss the claims of innocence of inmates. Every inmate has found a way to believe he's innocent. (And I believe that many extremely guilty folks believe they're innocent, making it harder for people who really are innocent.) The irony is that while prosecutors can see these people deceive themselves, apparently they can't see it when they themselves fall for the same delusion.
So much to think about. They discussed about ten different reasons/causes for people to be falsely convicted and each of the ten films is supposed to highlight one. (Though most involve several.) Some were;
- wrong eyewitnesses
- snitch testimony - informants lying for their own benefit
- wrong expert witnesses
- racism
- prosecutorial misconduct
- perjury and false testimony
- false confession
By the way, one for ten refers to stats that there is one exonerated convict for every ten executed.
Did I tell you I liked this session?
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