Filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky were in a Jonesboro, Ark. court yesterday to witness the release of prison inmates Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols, and Jessie Misskelly after 18 years in prison.
Known as the West Memphis 3 and subject of Berlinger and Sinofsky’s documentaries Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills and Paradise Lost 2: Revelations, the three men were finally released and cleared of the 1993 murders of three eight-year-old boys discovered in a muddy creek in the Robin Hood Hills area of West Memphis, Ark.
Berlinger and Sinofsky recently finished Paradise 3: Purgatory, about the long appeals process for the West Memphis 3 and the discovery of new evidence in the case, set to debut next month at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
For the filmmakers who have documented the story from the beginning and consistently advocated for the release of the West Memphis 3, Friday’s events were gratifying beyond words.
“Today, we, along with HBO, are humbled to be part of this remarkable outcome,” Sinofsky said in a release.
Sinofsky and Berlinger planned to change the ending of Paradise Lost 3: Puragtory in time for its New York Film Festival (NYFF) screening.
HBO also announced a theatrical release for Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory prior to its 2012 broadcast premiere to qualify the film for an Oscar nomination.
Meanwhile, director Atom Egoyan prepped for a spring 2012 production start on a dramatic film based on Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills.
“I’m just tired. This has been going on for 18 years,” Damien Echols said after his release.
Jonathan Glancey previewed Belfast’s Titanic Visitor Center by Dublin-based Todd Architects in The Guardian and described the post-modern behemoth as “the prow of a ship crashing into an iceberg.” The Titanic Visitor Center was built to be the first tenant in a Belfast urban development that includes high-tech industry, colleges and offices.
The Montreal-based singer Grimes, known off stage as 22-year-old Claire Boucher, recently wrapped a tour with Lykke Li and won over fans with her psychedelic EP Geidi Primes and her 12-inch single Darkbloom.
She spoke with Paper Magazine before appearing at PS1’s Warm Up party in Queens and described how she hoped her Go-Fi music would impact listeners.
“Well I have my ideas of what it’s best for,” Grimes told Paper. “I mean, I just want somebody to feel something when they hear it and to maybe to remove themselves from its cultural relevance or something. Just hear it as something moving and extremely emotional.”
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