Freedom Fighters, a documentary that follows a group of Texas exonerees as they form a detective agency to help exonerate other innocent inmates, received a MacArthur Foundation grant yesterday. The $150,000 grant for Freedom Fighters will enable director Jamie Meltzer to finish production on the film and continue to follow the Freedom Fighters as they take on more cases. The MacArthur Foundation supports independent films that cover a broad range of under-reported issues such as genocide in Guatemala, immigration policy, elder care, and wrongful conviction.
The Freedom Fighters formed after Christopher Scott, Johnnie Lindsay, Billy Smith, and Steven Philips met in a support group for exonerees in Dallas. They bonded over their shared stories and promised to help others still wrongfully imprisoned. Working with the Dallas Count District Attorney, the men have taken on six cases in the hopes of freeing other innocent inmates. The group also lobbies for criminal justice reform in Dallas, where more than 30 men have been freed in the past 10 years for wrongful murder convictions.
Congratulations to Jamie Meltzer and his team, and the Freedom Fighters for coming one step closer to telling this important story and bringing to light the many injustices of the criminal justice system.
Watch the trailer here
