I was listening to CBC’s Homestretch radio program one day last  month and host David Gray was inviting listeners to call in to share the best places in Calgary to go to for a few hours to park and let their car warm up.  One suggestion was the parkade at Eau Claire Market. If this cold wintery weather is getting to you and your car, may I suggest doing just that and take in a documentary while defrosting?

Presumed Guilty, the third screening of the Doc Soup series will be shown this Wednesday at 7:00 pm at the Cineplex Odeon Eau Claire Market.  Part of  the Calgary International Film Festival and Hot Docs, Doc Soup screenings are held on the first Wednesday of each month.

Presumed Guilty chronicles the story of an incarcerated man who gets a second chance to have his case re-tried.  Arrested for murder in Mexico City, José Antonio Zuñiga, breakdancer and rapper, was nowhere near the scene of the murder yet was sentenced to 20 years in jail for it, 48 hours after a boy pointed him out to police officers and without the presiding judge having had heard him speak. Zuñiga’s retrial was to be heard by the same judge but this time the trial would be captured by two lawyers with cameras.

Shot with hand-held cameras and accompanied by raw hip-hop beats, this film shows the retake of  Zuñiga’s trial from beginning to end exposing not only the flaws of an unsound legal system in which someone is presumed guilty but offering the promise of  hope for change.

PRESUMED GUILTY

D: Roberto Hernandez & Geoffrey Smith

Wednesday, January 6 @ 7:00 pm
Cineplex Odeon Eau Claire Market, 200 Barclay Parade, S.W.
Single tickets: $12 in advance at Bird Dog Video (1333 16 Avenue SW) or $14 at the door

Tags: CIFF, Doc Soup, Eau Claire

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 at 2:09 pm and is filed under Stage & Screen. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.