[ACLU-CU ALERT] Death Penalty screening this Sunday

[Announce at aclu-cu.org]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Rachael Dietkus
Deadline Event Organizer
(312)720-7004 – cell
rdietkus at hotmail.com

Death penalty documentary Deadline to be screened in
Champaign, Illinois on January 30 – the five-year
anniversary of the moratorium on executions. Former
Illinois Gov. George H. Ryan and filmmaker Kirsten
Johnson to be present at screening.

Champaign, IL (January 20, 2005) – On Sunday, January
30, 2005, at 4:30 p.m., the YWCA of the University of
Illinois will host a screening of the death penalty
documentary Deadline at Boardman’s Art Theatre in
Downtown Champaign, 126 W. Church Street. The
screening falls on the five-year anniversary of the
moratorium on executions imposed by then Governor
George H. Ryan in January 2000. Filmmaker Kirsten
Johnson and former Gov. Ryan will be present at the
screening for a Q & A immediately following the film.

Deadline delves into the hot-button topic of the death
penalty, with particular focus on the 2002
investigation initiated by former Republican governor
of Illinois, George H. Ryan, and his historic decision
in 2003 to commute the sentences of every man and
woman on Illinois’ death row. In his final days in
office, former Gov. Ryan was left to decide whether
167 death row inmates should live or die. In the
riveting countdown to Ryan's decision, Deadline
details the gripping drama of the state's clemency
hearings. Documented as the events unfold, the film is
a compelling look inside America's prisons,
highlighting one man's unlikely and historic actions
against the system.

The debate on the death penalty is by no means simple,
and Deadline presents a balanced picture, interviewing
lawyers, anti-death penalty advocates, politicians,
and men who've been released from death row, all of
whom are lucid and articulate. But it’s testimonies
from victims that are the most emotionally wrenching –
and the viewer may be surprised by their statements.

Tickets can be purchased online in advance for $8.00
at 
www.boardmansarttheatre.com.

Additional sponsors of this event include the
Champaign County ACLU, Illinois Program for Research
in the Humanities, Gender and Women's Studies Program
at the U of I, City of Urbana Human Relations
Commission, Department of Speech Communication at the
U of I, AWARE, University YMCA, Illinois Disciples
Foundation, Big Mouth Productions, and Northwestern's
Center on Wrongful Convictions.


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