AN UNREAL DREAM: The Michael Morton Story
92 minutes, documentary, color, 2013
A film by Al Reinert
Special Features • Approximately 70 minutes of bonus material, including:
Highlights from former DA Ken Anderson’s Court of Inquiry and plea deal hearing • Q&A with Double Oscar Nominee Al Reinert, Michael Morton & Attorney John Raley • “Whispering Hope” Music Video • SXSW Premiere Highlights
LOCKED UP FOR A MURDER HE DIDN’T COMMIT
In 1986 Michael Morton’s wife Christine is brutally murdered in front of their only child, and Michael is convicted of the crime. Locked away in Texas prisons for a quarter century, estranged from his son, he has years to ponder questions of justice and innocence, truth and fate. Though he is virtually invisible to society, the Innocence Project and Michael’s pro bono attorney spend years fighting for the right to test DNA evidence found at the murder scene. Their discoveries ultimately reveal that the price of a wrongful conviction goes well beyond one man’s loss of freedom.
Director Al Reinert is a two-time Academy Award nominee (as director of For All Mankind, which won the documentary Jury & Audience Awards when it premiered at Sundance in 1989, and as screenwriter for Apollo 13).
Audience Award Winner, Documentary Spotlight – SXSW 2013
“A powerful story of pain, injustice, redemption, and reconciliation.” – Huffington Post
“Recounts an outrageous miscarriage of justice without a trace of manufactured melodrama or visual hyperbole. The film’s rivetingly straightforward style of storytelling is a perfect match for its subject. An inspiring tale of spiritual uplift, sympathetically detailing how religious faith gave Morton the strength to endure, and the mercy to forgive.” – Variety
“An unflinching look at how Morton was wrongfully convicted of murder and had his only son disown him.”
– Associated Press
“Makes very real an innocent man’s nightmare through a cruel and broken justice system that stole his freedom, his relationship with his son and, nearly, his spirit.” – Houston Chronicle
“A gripping saga. What is most frightening is how much effort and time it took a squad of highly motivated, expert lawyers to claw Morton out of prison, even after the truth became widely apparent. If a respected, responsible citizen like Morton can be thrown in prison for decades based on such a feeble case, the film asks, who among the rest of us can consider ourselves safe?” – PopMatters
“An extraordinary film…ultimately a story of transcendence.” – Austin American Statesman
Packaged in a 100% Certified Green Forestry Practices Eco Pack
UPC: 7-20229-91585-4 | Catalog #: FRF 915854D | SRP: $24.95 | Street Date: April 1
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