After Innocence (2005)

Synopsis: After Innocence 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... After Innocence 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. The film features exonerees Dennis Maher of Lowell, MA, Calvin Willis of Shreveport, LA, Scott Hornoff of Cranston, RI, Wilton Dedge of Cocoa Beach, FL, Vincent Moto of Philadelphia, PA, Nick Yarris of Philadelphia, PA, and Herman Atkins of Los Angeles, CA. It also features Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld, founders of The Innocence Project which has helped to exonerate some of the more than 160 people freed through the use of post-conviction DNA testing in the last decade, and highlights the work of human rights activist Dr. Lola Vollen, co-founder of the Life After Exoneration Program. After Innocence, the first feature film about the exonerated, reflects the public's heightened interest in, and fascination with the astonishing stories of the innocent and wrongfully convicted. Recent works on similar themes are the critically received off-Broadway play "The Exonerated," the award-winning photo book "The Innocents" by acclaimed photographer Taryn Simon, recent new books such as Helen Prejean's (Dead Man Walking) "The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions," "Actual Innocence" by Barry Scheck, Peter Neufeld and Jim Dwyer, and "Bloodsworth: The True Story of the First Death Row Inmate Exonerated by DNA" by Tim Junkin, and numerous magazine stories about the exonerated and the men and women working to free the innocent. --© Official Site [More]

Director: Jessica Sanders

Director: Jessica Sanders
Studio: New Yorker Films