The Dallas Morning News Religion Blog notes an interesting new film that was previewed at the South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival in Austin earlier this month, and that will air at 8 p.m. on May 29 on the Independent Film Channel. The film is called “At the Death House Door,” and it focuses on the Rev. Carroll “Bud” Pickett’s path from death-penalty supporter to opponent:
Cathleen Falsani, religion columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, calls it “the most spiritually important film you’ll see this year.”
The film traces the Rev. Carroll “Bud” Pickett’s path from death-penalty supporter to opponent. From 1982 to 1995, Pickett, a Presbyterian minister in Huntsville, accompanied 95 Texas convicts to their executions.
One case that helped change his mind about capital punishment was that of Carlos De Luna, who was executed in 1989 for the murder of a Corpus Christi gas station attendant. De Luna went to his death maintaining his innocence, and Pickett to this day believes that the state killed the wrong man. A 2006 series by the Chicago Tribune found substantial evidence that someone else committed the murder.
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At the Death House Door” is directed by Steve James and Peter Gilbert, the director and cinematographer, respectively, of the acclaimed 1994 basketball documentary “Hoop Dreams.”