Washington, D.C. Film Festival
Mario's Story
- Director: Susan Koch & Jeff Werner
Susan Koch and Jeff Werner:
EMMY and Peabody award-winning filmmaker Susan Koch directs and produces documentaries and non-fiction programming for worldwide distribution and television broadcast. Susan Koch’s work has appeared on ABC, NBC, HBO, PBS, MTV, The Discovery Channel, National Geographic, Turner Broadcasting, American Movie Classics, The Learning Channel, and the Travel Channel. Her critically acclaimed film, City at Peace, premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival in 1998 and was broadcast on HBO. MTV Films/Paramount is developing a feature film based on the documentary, with Koch serving as producer.
Susan Koch is the co-founder, along with Christopher Koch, of the independent production companies, Cabin Films and Koch TV Productions. Their work together has received seven EMMY awards, a George Foster Peabody, and the Cable Ace Award.
Koch is on the board of the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children and is a founding board member of Our Voices Together, a non-profit organization founded by 9/11 families to help create a more just, compassionate world.
Jeff Werner is an award-winning director and editor of documentaries, feature films, and motion picture advertising. Werner is presently editing the feature length documentary SECOND CHANCE SEASON, an unusual look at restorative justice and high school basketball.
Prior to that, he edited YEAR OF THE YAO, and the DGA and Peabody Award-winning, THE SMITH FAMILY, documenting one Mormon woman’s courage and strength while facing her husband’s battle with AIDS.
Werner’s other edited films include the Sundance Festival and Spirit Award selected GO TIGERS! and the DGA Award nominated, BEYOND THE MAT, released by Lion’s Gate. In 1997, THE MIRROR HAS TWO FACES marked his sixth film collaboration with Barbra Streisand.
The films Werner has directed include, HBO's THE GODFATHER FAMILY and BLOODLINES; the latter was nominated for a Cable Ace Award. He is the winner of several Key Art Awards for his work in motion picture advertising.
- Synopsis
- Mario Rocha, a young Latino kid from East LA, was convicted of murder and attempted murder on the basis of one eyewitness identification and no physical evidence. He was 16 years old at the time of his arrest, yet tried as an adult and sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. While in Juvenile Hall waiting two years for his trial, Mario discovered his talent for writing.
Mario's chances of regaining his freedom are less than 1 percent. Once found guilty by a jury, it is almost impossible to overturn the conviction. This film interweaves Mario's story and writings as an inmate in one of California's toughest prisons, with the efforts of an unexpected group of people who have come together to win his freedom. They include Sister Janet Harris, the fesity and unstoppable former chaplain at Juvenile Hall ; Mario's pro-bono attorneys at Latham and Watkins, one of the nation's most prestigious law firms; and a private detective/screenwriter.
For over 7 years, the filmmakers were given unprecedented access to film inside Calipatria State Prison as well as the the behind-the-scenes legal efforts. While the film raises serious questions about our criminal justice system as it follows the often discouraging but determined efforts to win Mario's freedom, it is also a hopeful and inspiring story. Mario's own personal growth in prison reveals how even under the worst conditions, the human spirit can rise and reach out to others.
Cast and crew. »