Shakespeare Behind Bars / After Innocence December 3, 2006

DECEMBER 4 - 7 (MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY)
A-2-For-1 Documentary Double-Feature!
Co- Presented by The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico & NM Coalition to Repeal the Death Penalty

SHAKESPEARE BEHIND BARS (3:10, 6:45)
Dir. Hank Rogerson - 2005 - 93 minutes
Take Shakespeare's final play The Tempest, with its violent seas, windswept island, crucial connection to nature, and underlying theme of forgiveness, and bring it into a prison, the ultimate venue of confinement. The result is an extraordinary story about the creative process and the power of art to heal and redeem in a place where the very act of participation in theatre is a human triumph and a means of personal liberation. In this revelatory trip into and around this prison production, we embark on a year-long journey with the Shakespeare Behind Bars theatre troupe, in which the prisoners cast themselves in roles reflecting their personal history and fate. Their individual stories, including information about their heinous crimes, are interwoven with the plot of the play as the inmates delve deeply into the characters they portray while confronting their personal demons.

AFTER INNOCENCE (5:00, 8:35)
Dir. Jessica Sanders - 2005 - 95 minutes
This new documentary tells the dramatic and compelling story of the exonerated: innocent men wrongfully imprisoned for decades and then released after DNA
evidence proved their innocence. The film focuses on the gripping story of seven men and their emotional journey back into society and efforts to rebuild their lives. Included are a police officer, an army sergeant and a young father sent to prison and even death row for decades for crimes they did not commit. The men are thrust back into society with little or no support from the system that put them behind bars. While the public views exonerations as success stories - wrongs that have been righted - After Innocence shows that the human toll of wrongful imprisonment can last far longer than the sentences served. The film raises basic questions about human rights and society’s moral obligation to the exonerated and places a spotlight on the flaws in our criminal justice system that lead to wrongful conviction of the innocent.

Official Website: http://guildcinema.com