SHOWING:
4:15 pm, Sat. 9/23 @ Harbert Center
directed by Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg
* Documentary subjects Darryl Hunt, Mark Rabil and Larry Little are scheduled to attend.
THE TRIALS OF DARRYL HUNT documents a brutal rape/murder in the American South, and offers a deeply personal story of a wrongfully convicted man, Darryl Hunt, who spent twenty years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
In 1984, a young white newspaper reporter, Deborah Sykes, was raped, sodomized and stabbed to death just blocks from where she worked in Winston-Salem, NC. Based on an ID made by a former Klan member, a 19-year-old black man, Darryl Hunt, was charged. No physical evidence linked Hunt to the crime. Hunt was convicted by an all white jury, and sentenced to life imprisonment.
The film chronicles this capital case from 1984 through 2004. With personal narratives and exclusive footage from two decades, the film frames the judicial and emotional responses to this chilling crime - and the implications surrounding Hunt’s conviction - against a backdrop of class and racial bias in America. This unique look at one man’s loss and redemption challenges the assumption that all Americans have the right to unbiased justice.
Directors Bio:
Annie Sundberg produced the independent feature film, TULLY, nominated for four 2003 IFP Spirit Awards, and was co-producer of IN MY CORNER, a feature documentary film about the world of amateur boxing and the lives of the young men who train in the South Bronx. Ricki Stern was the co-producer and director IN MY CORNER, and produced and directed the EMMY nominated NEGLECT NOT THE CHILDREN, a documentary about a Harlem based youth program hosted by Morgan Freeman. Annie and Ricki team up again on their next documentary, THE DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK, the story of Brian Steidle and the Darfur crisis.
