Sembène Film Festival: True Conviction

Join for a screening of True Conviction presented by Sembène–The Film & Art Festival. This program will be followed by a Q&A discussion with one of the subjects of the film, Christopher Scott.

(Run time: 1hr 24min)

After serving a combined sixty-three years in prison for crimes they did not commit, Texas exonerees Christopher Scott, Johnnie Lindsey and Steven Phillips form the unlikeliest of investigative teams—helping wrongfully convicted prisoners obtain freedom through the emergence of DNA evidence or new information.

In Jamie Meltzer’s hard-boiled yet rousing documentary True Conviction, brotherly bonds are formed out of life-or-death circumstances. Through the steadfast fieldwork of this grassroots “dream team,” these Dallas detectives transform decades of hard time into a new career helping others.

Focusing on two cases—Max Soffar (a Death Row inmate of 35 years who was forced into a triple murder confession in Houston when he was a young man), and Isaiah Hill (sentenced to life in prison on aggravated robbery charges after refusing a plea bargain)—the trio logs in hundreds of miles digging up fresh evidence on behalf of their incarcerated clients.

Through tenacity, hope and determination these freedom fighters work together to rebuild broken lives and families as they campaign to fix the criminal justice.