Would you confess to a crime you did not commit? Probably not. Yet perhaps you would.
During the process of police interrogation in the U.S., it is common to use special techniques to coerce the suspect to confess to a crime. Within closed rooms, a trained interrogator can get almost anybody to confess, regardless of whether or not the suspect is guilty.
This profound injustice has inspired defense lawyer Jane Fisher-Byrialsen to raise awareness of the manipulative and coercive interrogation techniques that are employed. Through three specific cases of false confessions we look at the psychological aspect of why people end up confessing to crimes they have not committed and what consequences it entails – for them, for their families and for society.
As Jane works on her false confession cases she fights to convince the authorities that there is urgent need for reform within the U.S. legal system. She knows that she is up against powerful forces – but Jane is not the kind of person who lets injustice prevail.
More information available on the film’s website, Kickstarter and Facebook Page.
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Katrine Philp, Director
KATRINE PHILP is an Emmy nominated director who graduated as a documentary film director from The National Film School of Denmark in 2009. Her first film, ‘Book of Miri’, was awarded the President ́s Award at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, nominated at IDFA and won the European Young CIVIS Media Prize in Germany. In 2014, Katrine won the Audience Award at the American Documentary Film Festival for her debut feature length documentary ‘Dance For Me’ which was also selected for POV on PBS in 2014 and nominated for an Emmy Award in the category ‘Outstanding Arts and Culture Programming’ 2015. Her latest film, ‘Home Sweet Home’, was competing in the Kids & Docs competition at IDFA and won a Danish Academy Award (Robert Prize) in 2016.
Katrine A. Sahlstrøm, Producer
KATRINE A. SALSTRØM produced Katrine Philp’s ‘Home Sweet Home’, which premiered at IDFA in 2015. Sahlstrøm worked for Lars von Trier for many years before she started producing documentaries. Her first documentary, ‘Ai Weiwei The Fake Case’, was in the main competition at IDFA and won the Critic’s Award (Bodil) in Denmark and was broadcast around the world, also on POV. She was associate producer on ‘Natural Disorder’, which competed in the main competition at IDFA in 2015. Her other latest films are ‘Future Road’ (2015, CPH:DOX, Doc Point, prime-time at DR1) and ‘Ejersbo’ (2015, CPH:DOX and Danish theatrical release).