IMPACT AWARD to HBO Documentary Films
Program sponsored by Silvercrest Asset Management Group
WHEN A WITNESS RECANTS
FRI, 12/4, 7:30pm, 117 min
SAG HARBOR CINEMA
Director Dawn Porter in attendance for Q&A
Cocktail reception
Director: Dawn Porter
Producers: Dawn Porter, Jennifer Oko, Miriam Weintraub
Editor: Jessica Congdon
Cinematographer: Bryan Gentry
In 1983, noted author Ta-Nehisi Coates learned that a 14-year-old boy was murdered in the corridor of Harlem Park Junior High School. Revisiting the case as an adult, he learns the truth about the three innocent teenagers who were convicted and sentenced to life. The story tracks their journey from wrongful conviction to vindication. Each of the three young men spent 36 years behind bars–a total of 108 years–the longest combined wrongful conviction term in U.S. history.
Dawn Porter has made many award-winning films, including documentaries about Robert F. Kennedy, Vernon Jordan, Nelson Mandela, and John Lewis. Her film Trapped won the Special Jury Award for Social Impact at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, in addition to a Peabody. Her 2013 Gideon’s Army was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award and an Emmy. In 2021, she received Hamptons Doc Fest’s Pennebaker Career Achievement Award for her penetrating focus on truth and justice.
At this screening, HBO Documentary Films will be honored with the IMPACT Award. HBO Documentary Films has been unwavering in its commitment to visionary storytelling and unparalleled in its dedication to nurturing independent filmmakers.