Dad says Oscar-nominated film glorifies convicts

Dad says Oscar-nominated film glorifies convicts
Sunday, February 26, 2012

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas — Todd Moore isn’t sure whether he’ll watch the Oscars this weekend, when a documentary about the murder of his son and two other Cub Scouts could win an Academy Award.

Moore and his ex-wife, Diana, believe “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory” glorifies the three men convicted in the Arkansas boys’ deaths and asked the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to bar it from consideration for an Oscar.

The academy refused, saying the film met the basic eligibility requirements and was being viewed and evaluated by members.

“It would not be possible for the Academy — its leadership, executives, or administration — to insert itself into this process without risking the integrity of this longstanding procedure and of the awards themselves,” wrote Rob Epstein, who chairs the Documentary Branch Executive Committee, in the letter dated Dec. 13. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter this week.

Epstein thanked the family for writing with such candor and said he could only begin to imagine the anguish they’ve suffered.

“I would not trivialize your pain by asking for your understanding, but I do hope this has clarified the organization’s role in the Awards process,” he wrote.

The film, directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, is the third in a series of HBO documentaries about the killings of Michael Moore, Stevie Branch and Christopher Byers in West Memphis. The three men convicted in their 1993 deaths, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, entered a plea deal last year that cut their prison term to time served and let them still claim innocence.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/breaking-news/2012/02/26/dad-says-oscar-nominated-film-glorifies-convicts-208164

Victim’s Parents Say West Memphis Three Documentary Shouldn’t Receive an Oscar

Victim’s Parents Say West Memphis Three Documentary Shouldn’t Receive an Oscar By DAVE ITZKOFF December 1, 2011

The parents of one of the children who was killed in the so-called West Memphis Three murder case have asked the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to refuse Oscar consideration for the documentary “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory,” saying that it celebrates the three defendants in that case.

In a letter reported by The Associated Press, Todd and Dana Moore, whose 8-year-old son, Michael, was found murdered with two other boys in West Memphis, Ark., in 1993, told the academy that the defendants were “unjustly able to enter into a plea agreement” and obtain their freedom from prison because of “public pressure that exploded due to gross misrepresentations of fact” in the “Paradise Lost” films.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/victims-parents-say-west-memphis-three-documentary-shouldnt-receive-an-oscar/

Nix West Memphis 3 doc from Oscar race, urge victim’s parents
CBC News Dec 1, 2011
The parents of one of three West Memphis, Ark., boys found dead 18 years ago have appealed to Oscar organizers to withdraw from consideration a documentary about the men convicted in the murders.

In a letter sent Nov. 22, Todd and Dana Moore requested that Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory be removed from a list of documentaries members of the U.S. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are viewing to determine the finalists for the Oscars….

“Because of public pressure that exploded due to gross misrepresentations of fact in the two previous documentaries, Michael’s killers were unjustly able to enter into a plea agreement, were released from prison and now pose additional threats to society,” the Moores write in their letter.

“We implore the academy not to reward our child’s killers and the directors who have profited from one of the greatest frauds ever perpetrated under the guise of a documentary film.”….

Berlinger defended his film, saying he stands by his conclusion that the trio is innocent. He admitted that he started on the first documentary with the idea that the men had committed the crimes, but later concluded the justice system had erred.

The Moores granted an interview for the first film of the series, but claim in their letter to the academy that the filmmakers “misled” them. “We appeared solely in the first film because the directors lied and told us their purpose was to protect children,” the letter says.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/12/01/west-memphis-3.html