Filmmaker Roee Messinger will screen and discuss his debut feature film AMERICAN TRIAL: THE ERIC GARNER STORY.
Messinger's movie boldly imagines what might have happened if a Staten Island grand jury had indicted NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo following the death of Eric Garner. The script of the film was developed entirely through improvisation, from a cast of mostly non-actors: real lawyers play the prosecutors and defense attorneys, Garner's widow Esaw Snipes plays herself.
The "trial" that results is a work of the imagination, but it captures the intricacies of the American legal system with the depth and detail of great nonfiction. AMERICAN TRIAL is a wholly unexpected and original exploration of an urgent contemporary story. You have never seen a movie quite like it.
Presented by the Film and Media Studies Program, the Center for Leadership and Community Engagement, and the Center for Intercultural Advancement.
This screening is for Wagner students, faculty, and staff only! Guests from outside of the Wagner College community will not be permitted.