Glasgow film event from Amnesty International - Examining the death penalty

Free screening of excerpts from 'A Life in the Balance: Examining the Troy Davis Case' followed by Q&A with filmmaker Jen Marlowe and Amnesty International

• Tuesday 8 November 8.00 - 10.00pm
  
• Centre for Contemporary Arts, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2 3JD

Amnesty International in Scotland and Document 9 International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival present a free film event examining the death penalty at Glasgow's CCA on Tuesday 8 November 2011, followed by a question and answer session with the filmmaker, Jen Marlowe, and Amnesty International.

The screening includes excerpts from the documentary series, 'A Life in the Balance: Examining the Troy Davis Case', created by Jen Marlowe in collaboration with Amnesty International USA.

Troy Davis was executed earlier this year having spent 20 years on death row for being convicted of the killing of policeman Mark Allen MacPhail. The film highlights serious flaws in the original investigation, why and how the case against Troy unravelled, the difficulty of proving innocence in the USA's legal system's appeal process, and why Davis's case was a strong one for clemency.

The event will also include footage of Reggie Clemons, sentenced to death in St. Louis as an accomplice in the 1991 murder of two young Women's rights's rightss rights's rights's rights's rights. Amnesty International USA is urging the state of Missouri to recognize the serious problems with Reggie Clemons' case and to commute his death sentence.

An award-winning author, documentary-maker, playwright and human rights advocate, Jen Marlowe has been writing about Troy Davis' case and the Davis family for several years, becoming friends with Troy Davis during the last three years of his life. They corresponded primarily via letters and phone and Jen visited him several times on death row--the most recent time being the day before his execution. She is currently working on a book with Troy Davis' sister, Martina.

Jen Marlowe said
"It has been an extraordinary privilege and a blessing to stand by Troy Davis and the Davis family in their struggle to expose the truth about Troy's case. The videos that I worked on with Amnesty International were intended to highlight all the problems with Troy's case, explaining exactly what we meant when we said, 'too much doubt to execute.' Shamefully, Georgia proceeded with the execution. Troy's case, however, shines a light on the injustice of the US Death Penalty system and why this system must be abolished."

Notes

Event:  Examining the Death Penalty - Screening of 'A Life in the Balance: Examining the Troy Davis Case' followed by Q&A with filmmaker Jen Marlowe, and Amnesty International.
When: Tuesday 8 November 8pm til 10 pm
Where: CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2 3JD
Tickets: Book via CCA Tickets are free but donations are gratefully accepted.

• Troy Davis was convicted in August 1991 of the killing of an off-duty policeman called Mark Allen MacPhail, who was shot in Savannah, Georgia in 1989. The 42-year-old has always protested his innocence and there was no physical evidence linking him to the crime. Following his trial seven out of nine prosecution witnesses recanted or changed their initial testimonies in sworn affidavits and in 2007 Amnesty International published a report detailing a pattern of police coercion of witnesses. Despite these and other grounds for doubt, and after numerous postponements, the state of Georgia refused a final appeal for clemency and executed Davis by lethal injection on September 21 2011.
  Read our blog on Troy's execution

• Amnesty International’s work on the death penalty /li>

• Jen Marlowe is a Seattle-based author, documentary-maker, playwright and human rights advocate who won awards in 2007 for Darfur Diaries, a film and book project about the victims of the conflict in the Darfur region of Southern Sudan. Marlowe travelled clandestinely into Darfur to make the film.  She has also travelled and made documentaries in other hotspots including Gaza, where she interviewed young people from both sides of the Israeli/Palestinian divide. Further information about Jen Marlowe can be found on her website www.donkeysaddle.org
  
  Jen Marlowe worked with Amnesty International USA to produce a four-part series, "A Life in the Balance: Examining the Troy Davis Case,". The full series can be found at JusticeForTroy.org /li>

• Founded in 2003, Document s the only dedicated international human rights documentary film festival in Scotland. Held annually in October, it is a grassroots initiative that aims to use film as an advocacy tool to raise the profile and promote debate of human rights and social issues across the globe. The festival provides a unique platform that attracts Scottish, UK and international documentary film-makers and promotes local and international discussion, cultural exchange and education throughout the year.