Sony Pictures Classic announced last week that the Amy Berg-directed and Peter Jackson-produced film, West of Memphis will be coming to a theater near you. Several TORn readers wondered if they would be able to view the film after TORn was invited to see the film at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. The film is powerful, important and deserving of a wide audience and the answer is officially “yes.” The film will be available in theaters to many fans.
Jackson and wife Fran Walsh have been involved with two subjects of the film who are also producers and had a chance to contribute to telling their own story. Damien Echols, who sat on death row for 18 years and his wife Lori Davis, fought to have Echols exonerated for the murder of three eight year old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. Echols and the other two men (Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr.) were teens when convicted, were released late in 2011 by entering an Alford guilty plea while maintaining their innocence.
West of Memphis, takes a long look at one of the victim’s stepfathers and recently a $100,000 reward, provided by an anonymous donor, was offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer in the case. The film, especially when it hits a wide release, may force the justice system of Arkansas to take a further look into the case. Those defending the three, including Jackson and Walsh, want the West Memphi Three’s names completely cleared, now that they have gained their freedom. (Video and the official press release after the break). Continue reading “Fans will see Peter Jackson’s ‘West of Memphis’”
