spoke digital films

Jon Burge, the ringleader of the Chicago Police Department’s history of Abu-Ghraib sytle torture from the 1970’s to the 1990’s, has been arrested and charged with perjury and obstruction of justice.  (I have embedded the trailer to Shielded Brutality below, which is the documentary I’ve been producing documenting this history.)

From chicagobreakingnews.com:
Retired Chicago police Cmdr. Jon [...]

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In the second part of this story, two Iraq veterans from Tennessee discuss their frustration with the lack of coverage the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are getting. They are both members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, but show strong support for their colleagues still fighting overseas (as well as the innocent civilians caught in the struggle).

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This quietly engaging film chronicles a retired Texas pastor who worked as a prison chaplain for fifteen years. Part of Pastor Pickett’s job was to counsel convicts on Death Row, though his responsibilities went further than that. One of Pickett’s duties was to counsel the men on the days leading up to their execution and make certain they wouldn’t fight as they were led to the gurney to be strapped down for lethal injection.

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I’m very pleased to announce that the Puffin Foundation generously awarded Spoke Digital Films with an Artist Grant to help us complete our documentary, Shielded Brutality, which documents a thirty-year history of police torture in Chicago, Il.

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Recently, the New York Times reported about a Pew Research Center study indicating that 1 in 99 American adults are behind bars, our country’s highest rate ever. I decided to do some research about the role private prisons play in the economics and politics of this development.

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While the complicated subjects of copyright and intellectual property law are by no means glossed over, they are bolstered with historical anecdotes, personal stories, discussions with filmmakers and archivists, and plenty of real world examples spoken in plain language. This is a book written by creative people with a passion for filmmaking, and it shows in the text.

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I remain awestruck by the number of mom and pop companies making big dollars in the defense industry… Imagine if the owners and employees of these companies wouldn’t dream of voting for a candidate that proposed cutting our education budget the same way I presume they vote for candidates who protect military expenditures. America might be a different country.

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Some important developments have occurred since the new year, including a $20 settlement with four torture victims. We can only hope this is the beginning of further moves towards real justice for victims and their families. I hope that this film can play some part in working towards that justice and preventing future abuses. I am still hoping for a date of completion by the end of this Summer.

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Before January gets too far along, I wanted to take a minute to reflect on the year past, especially as it relates to the making of my film, Shielded Brutality. In short, last year was hugely successful, and ended on the great note of two and half years of hard work coming together successfully. But before I get to that, let me quickly recap what was accomplished. Here are some of the people I was fortunate enough to film interviews with over the past year discussing the Burge history and criminal justice reform in general.

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We just found out this week that our documentary film, Shielded Brutality, was awarded the Media Justice Fund grant from the Crossroads Fund in Chicago! This will be a huge asset in finishing the film and I can’t thank the people at Crossroads enough.
It’s been a very busy past few months. Much [...]

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