New Documentary from Steve James and Peter Gilbert ("Hoop Dreams")

?At the Death House Door? filmmakers Steve James and Peter Gilbert already have potent storytelling power with audiences after the landmark 1994 documentary ?Hoop Dreams? (in which James directed and Gilbert produced). Gilbert is a Chicago native.

They?re bringing ?At the Death House Door? to Chicago for a one-week engagement at the Gene Siskel Film Center starting on May 10, 2008 at 8 p.m.

For that screening, James and Gilbert will be in attendance along with executive producer Gordon Quinn (a founding member of ?At the Death House Door? production company Kartemquin Films). The Tribune Company is also a production company for the film, which is being distributed by the Independent Film Channel (IFC). The film will air on IFC on May 29, 2008 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Synopsis:
The United States has wavered back and forth in its stance on the death penalty. Advocates for and opponents against it are large and fervent on both sides of the fence. Some 18 years later, Chicago Tribune reporters Steve Mills and Maury Possley in 2005 began investigating inconsistent evidence in the case of Carlos De Luna. He was executed in 1989.

De Luna?s investigation has prompted pastor Carroll Pickett to speak up. For 15 years, Picked served as the death house chaplain at the infamous ?Walls? prison unit in Hunstville, Texas. As Pickett presided over 95 executions ? including the world?s first lethal injection ? he was each person?s sanctuary in their final moments.

The story of Pickett, De Luna and countless others is being told now in the ?quiet powerhouse? documentary ?At the Death House Door?. The film?s message is now heating up the country?s burners after its world premiere on March 9, 2008 at the South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival.

Sorry about the ? at the top of the article. I cut and pasted the text and apparently the site software does not recognize these particular formatting codes for quotation marks and apostrophes.

Thanks, Richard! I don't check the message board regularly so I missed that one until now, but another member Karan had recommended we see it as well. I enjoyed seeing the film on Wednesday.