The systematic racism and violence committed by police officers against innocent Black people was already in the national conversation when director Reinaldo Marcus Green’s “Monsters and Men” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2018. Nevertheless, Green’s debut has taken on additional resonance in recent weeks, in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death and the ensuing protests. Green’s movie unfolds as a triptych that evaluates a similar situation from three perspectives: the conflicted young man (Anthony Ramos) who films the death of an unarmed Black man at the hands of racist officers, a frustrated Black officer (John David Washington) uncertain whether to speak out about his colleagues’ behavior, and the challenges faced by a rising young athletic star (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) who can’t decide if he should take a knee. The drama was inspired by Eric Garner’s death, but continues to resonate two years later...
- 6/19/2020
- by Eric Kohn
- Thompson on Hollywood
The systematic racism and violence committed by police officers against innocent Black people was already in the national conversation when director Reinaldo Marcus Green’s “Monsters and Men” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2018. Nevertheless, Green’s debut has taken on additional resonance in recent weeks, in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death and the ensuing protests. Green’s movie unfolds as a triptych that evaluates a similar situation from three perspectives: the conflicted young man (Anthony Ramos) who films the death of an unarmed Black man at the hands of racist officers, a frustrated Black officer (John David Washington) uncertain whether to speak out about his colleagues’ behavior, and the challenges faced by a rising young athletic star (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) who can’t decide if he should take a knee. The drama was inspired by Eric Garner’s death, but continues to resonate two years later...
- 6/19/2020
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Ramsey Orta — who shot video of Eric Garner’s 2014 arrest that lead to death by police chokehold — was released from prison on May 28th. Orta’s fiancée, Deja Richardson, confirmed the news to Rolling Stone via email; a Department of Corrections and Community Supervision spokesperson also confirmed his release. His prison sentence is officially over on July 11th; after that, Orta will remain under court supervision until January 2022.
The Doccs spokesperson also said that they are currently reviewing the incarcerated population for candidates for early release in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Doccs spokesperson also said that they are currently reviewing the incarcerated population for candidates for early release in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.
- 6/8/2020
- by Brenna Ehrlich
- Rollingstone.com
Camilla Hall’s debut documentary, “Copwatch,” wants viewers to know these names: Dave Whitt. Ramsey Orta. Kevin Moore. Not because these men of color have been lost to police violence but because they documented it.
Ramsey Orta trained his cellphone on the arrest of Eric Garner as NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo applied the lethal (and banned) chokehold that killed the man from Staten Island, N.Y., in July 2014. Onetime Canfield Green Apartments resident Dave Whitt began recording on his phone in the immediate aftermath of police officer Darren Wilson’s killing of Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Mo., on Aug. 9, 2014. Kevin Moore grabbed his cellphone when his dad — hearing distressed screams from the street — shouted for him to come; Moore documented the arrest of Freddie Gray, who died in Baltimore police custody in April 2015.
Last week, the We Are One online film festival added the doc — which Variety reviewed when it...
Ramsey Orta trained his cellphone on the arrest of Eric Garner as NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo applied the lethal (and banned) chokehold that killed the man from Staten Island, N.Y., in July 2014. Onetime Canfield Green Apartments resident Dave Whitt began recording on his phone in the immediate aftermath of police officer Darren Wilson’s killing of Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Mo., on Aug. 9, 2014. Kevin Moore grabbed his cellphone when his dad — hearing distressed screams from the street — shouted for him to come; Moore documented the arrest of Freddie Gray, who died in Baltimore police custody in April 2015.
Last week, the We Are One online film festival added the doc — which Variety reviewed when it...
- 6/7/2020
- by Lisa Kennedy
- Variety Film + TV
I first started hearing about federal agents in Staten Island about four years ago, roughly a year after the killing of Eric Garner. I was working on a book about the case called I Can’t Breathe. The streets were abuzz with rumors about G-Men showing up in the old Bay Street neighborhood where Garner had been choked to death, in July of 2014, by a New York City policeman.
The New York Times summarized what happened to Garner:
Bystanders filmed the arrest on their cellphones, recording Mr. Garner as he gasped “I can’t breathe,...
The New York Times summarized what happened to Garner:
Bystanders filmed the arrest on their cellphones, recording Mr. Garner as he gasped “I can’t breathe,...
- 7/17/2019
- by Matt Taibbi
- Rollingstone.com
Gunpowder & Sky has acquired rights in all English-speaking territories to Copwatch, the feature-length documentary that bowed this spring at the Tribeca Film Festival. It follows the story of WeCopwatch, an organization whose mission is to film police activity as a non-violent form of protest and deterrent to police brutality. The film, directed by journalist-turned-helmer Camilla Hall, includes profiles of members including Ramsey Orta, who filmed Eric Garner's final…...
- 6/12/2017
- Deadline
There’s a moment late in Camilla Hall’s Copwatch when a rare officer of color from the Ferguson Police Department engages a group of copwatchers, a term used for local, autonomous groups who document policing activity and potential wrongdoing on the side of the law. He’s careful to discuss policies he’s not a fan of while hearing them out. Copwatch isn’t a permanent solution — one would hope with the rise of body cameras and community-based policing it wouldn’t have to be — but there is still unanswered questions regarding police tactics and use of force that supervisors and chiefs remain unwilling to be transparent about for one reason or another. Or, as former NYPD Police Commissioner Bill Bratton used to say, “it looks awful, but it’s lawful.” The conversation that ends Copwatch is lively, even if the Copwatchers occasionally talk over themselves, which could be...
- 4/30/2017
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
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