“A Different Side of Baltimore” | Dawn Porter, When A Witness Recants
In 1983, noted author Ta-Nehisi Coates remembers learning that a 14-year old boy was murdered in the corridor of his Baltimore middle school. Revisiting the case as an adult, he learns the truth about the three innocent teenagers who were convicted and sentenced to life. After 36 years in prison, it was revealed that false testimony led to their imprisonment. When A Witness Recants explores the collateral damage the handling of this case had on the community, the wrongfully accused, and the young witnesses pressured to betray them.
Co-presented by Black Women Directors, a digital archive and curatorial platform founded by Danielle A. Scruggs that celebrates the work of Black women and non-binary filmmakers worldwide, When A Witness Recants screens Monday, May 4, at 6:30 p.m., at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago, as part of the Chicago Critics Film Festival and serves as our Centerpiece screening. Ahead of the screening, Porter graciously took the time to answer this year’s filmmaker questionnaire. Below, her individual responses.
How did you first become interested in filmmaking? What was your path toward directing your first film?
My background is in law. I worked for ABC News and saw how producers created news stories and thought creating films could combine my interest in law and social justice.
What inspired you to make the film you're bringing to the festival?
I’d never heard of such a long period of wrongful incarceration.
Tell us about a film that you consider a guiding influence (whether it has informed your overarching vision as a filmmaker, directly informed the title you're bringing to the festival, or both).
Hoop Dreams. I was so taken with how Steve James centered the subjects in the filmmaking.
Tell us about a location that's held significance to the film you're bringing to the festival: a setting where filming took place, a geographic area that provided a source of inspiration, or another type of space that comes to mind for you in thinking about the film. What made this place so special?
Baltimore has had such ups and downs. We wanted to show a different side of Baltimore.
The theatrical experience brings us together to celebrate artistic experience and expand our horizons as human beings. Tell us about a memorable theatrical experience from your life.
We have had such a wonderful time sharing the film with festival audiences. Having the subjects of the film share their experiences is so meaningful. Its been a highlight of this experience.
