News

At the Death House Door community screening

May 6, 2008

If you can’t make the Chicago premiere of At the Death House Door during its run at the Siskel, you have another chance!

Kartemquin Films, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Illinois, the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law, and The Public Square at the Illinois Humanities Council present…

Civic Cinema

At the Death House Door Screening and Discussion Wednesday, May 28

7:00 PM - 9:30 PM (doors open at 6:30)

Thorne Auditorium, Northwestern University School of Law

375 East Chicago Avenue

This event is free and open to the public. Reservations are required. Email events@prairie.org or call 312-422-5580.

After the screening, there will be a discussion featuring Pickett, Chicago Tribune reporter Steve Mills, filmmakers Steve James and Peter Gilbert, Ed Yohnka of the ACLU of Illinois, and Rob Warden, Executive Director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law. At the Death House Door tells the story of Rev. Carroll Pickett, who served 15 years as the death house chaplain to the infamous “Walls” prison unit in Huntsville, Texas and presided over 95 executions, including the world‚s first lethal injection. The film particularly focuses on how Pickett was affected by Carlos De Luna, one of the inmates he counseled and who is now widely-regarded as wrongfully convicted˜based on evidence uncovered by Chicago Tribune reporters Steve Mills and Maurice Possley. It is a film about of the failures of the criminal justice system; about one man‚s spiritual and moral journey; and how this very final act of punishment does not bring closure.

Additionally, The Documentary Channel Blog recently covered the film. Read the post.

So did this Texas blog.