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Logline

The story of how unacceptable failings in our nation’s death penalty system allowed the life of one mentally ill death row inmate to be used as a prop to support Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign, after she was failed by every loved one and institution charged with her protection.

Synopsis

In December, 2004 Lisa Montgomery killed Bobbi Jo Stinnett and cut her unborn child from her womb. Despite copious evidence of severe mental illness, and a childhood ripped straight from a Stephen King novel, during which she was beaten & raped weekly by her stepfather, a jury quickly sentenced her to death. Sixteen years later, a tense Donald Trump was eager to build news and excitement around his 2020 re-election campaign. His solution was to dust off a 17-year moratorium on federal executions, and find convicts he could kill to burnish his “law and order” bona fides. His compliant AG, William Barr was quick to accommodate, compiling a list of the condemned, a list that featured Lisa Montgomery. Despite a heartfelt and engaged clemency movement launched by Montgomery’s public defender, her fate was sealed in a terse, midnight order from “pro life” SCOTUS judge, Amy Coney Barrett. This is the story of how egregious and unacceptable failings in our nation’s death penalty system allowed the life of one mentally ill death row inmate to be used as a prop to support Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign after she was failed by every loved one and institution that was charged with her protection.

Meet the Filmmakers

Ethan Felizzari-Castillo — Co-Writer/Director/producer
Tobias Deml is a social impact filmmaker from Vienna, Austria and Co-founder of PRODIGIUM PICTURES Tobias has most recently directed the HBO Max docu-series Gaming Wall Street. Beyond that. he’s shot thirteen feature films and helmed more than 100 projects as cinematographer, director or producer. Tobias’ work has been distributed by the likes of HBO Max and Netflix, and premiered at festivals such as SXSW. He likes to bridge the worlds of independent film and impact research, both being an avid Sundance Film Festival attendee as well as traveling around the globe for impact-focused conferences such as the SBCC Summit in Bali, Indonesia. Tobias has a long history with visual art. Since the age of 14, he worked as a 3D artist, photographer and graphic designer – completely self-taught. Throughout his Vienna high school years, he freelanced in the area of animation, print, advertising and visualization. After graduating with his thesis “Psychology of Group and Mass”, he served as a Holocaust Memorial servant for one year in Los Angeles and Montreal to substitute his mandatory Austrian military service. Living among a foreign culture and seeing a bigger picture of the world inspired Tobias to become a filmmaker. During his college studies in LA, he met his long-time collaborator Hiroki Kamada who he cofounded Prodigium Pictures with in 2011. In 2012, Tobias had a near-death experience that led to a full personal and professional pivot: namely, towards creating socially valuable and lasting impact as a commercial filmmaker rather than “just entertainment”. To find evidence for this mission, he went on to study film theory at UC Berkeley and co-founded the magazine Cinema of Change, partially based on his 80-page Berkeley thesis “Cinema of Change: The Persuasive Impact of Narrative Motion Picture on Individual and Society“. For the magazine, he and co-founder Robert Rippberger publish articles from authors around the world, interview film and psychology experts like Philipp Zimbardo, and organize conferences and discussion rounds.

Tessa Byford-Lopez — Producer
Tessa Byford-Lopez is a Social Impact Producer, born in Peru and raised in Pittsburgh, PA and is Head of Production at Prodigium Pictures She has more than 8 years of experience in digital media and film. She has developed, produced, and production managed multiple feature films, commercials, documentaries, and over 100 short form projects. She’s production supervised for movie studios like A24, and has been lucky to work with actors like Selma Blair, Nat Faxon, Missy Pyle, Graham Greene, Booboo Stewart, PJ Byrne and more. Tessa started her career in talent and production at Maker Studios, Defy Media, and Thrillist. After her time in the new media space, she decided to freelance and pursue independent productions on both coasts, as well as North and South America on documentary and travel projects. Her main pursuit in film is to push stories with social impact forward and have a full understanding of how media can be used effectively and ethically. She hopes to lead all productions to fruition by working with integrity, trust, teamwork, and communication.

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Contact

For inquiries, please contact fiscalsponsorship@filmindependent.org.