News on the Palladium Shooting

Doubting Case, a Prosecutor Helped the Defense
by Benjamin Weiser

The New York Times and WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show covered the wrongful convictions of David Lemus and Olmedo Hidalgo today.

These pieces focus on former assistant district attorney Daniel L. Bibb's re-investigation and prosecution of the Palladium case. They also question Manhattan district attorney Robert M. Morgenthau's handling of the case.

Doubting Case, a Prosecutor Helped the Defense

New Twists in Palladium Conviction

David Lemus's story inspired my short film The Wannabe.
David turned 40 on June 22, 2008. He spent more than 14 years in prison for a murder he did not commit.

Save the date for
CUP's 2008 Summer Benefit

Please join

Cynthia Barton, Sarina Basta, Paul Beatty, Chitra Ganesh, Toni Griffin, Tala Hadid, Fritz Haeg, Yu Inamoto, André Knights, Alix Lambert, Rattawut Lapcharoensap, Chris Muller, Carol Paik, Jen Petersen, Damaris Reyes, Martha Rosler, Ron Shiffman, David Smiley, Celina Su, Elayne Tobin, Calvin Tsao, Omar Wasow, Peter W. Wood,
Gwendolyn Wright

at the home of William Menking
60 Lispenard Street
7th floor
New York, NY 10013
(one block south of Canal St., between Broadway and Church)

Thursday, July 17, 7–10 pm

About CUP:
The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP)
creative education about places and how they change

The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP), a Brooklyn-based nonprofit organization, began working in 1998 and was incorporated in 2001. CUP investigates the built environment by facilitating collaborations among advocates, architects, artists, city workers, educators, policy makers, residents and students. By examining spaces as they are, CUP imagines how they could be different and how residents can participate in shaping them. Investigations begin with questions about how communities work: Who built public housing? How are prisons designed? Where does garbage go? Why are there abandoned buildings? Project participants use a research-based, design-driven process to develop inventive tools for community participation and change. CUP projects take many forms: architectural proposals, board games, comic books, exhibitions, films and videos, maps, models, posters, walking tours and workshops.

CUP’s mission grows from the belief that the power of imagination is central to the practice of democracy and that the work of governing must engage community residents’ dreams and visions. CUP distributes its work through community-based organizations, education and design institutions, public installations, television shows and free programs. CUP projects are executed by a network of participants who are supported by CUP’s staff, board of directors and volunteers.

CUP Staff: Rosten Woo (Executive Director & Co-Founder), Valeria Mogilevich (Program Manager) and Lize Mogel (Grants Associate)

CUP Board of Directors: Damon Rich (Founder & Chair), Althea Wasow (Co-Founder & Vice-Chair), Christian Matthaeus (Treasurer), Kate Rubin (Secretary), Sarah Dadush (Co-Founder), Suzanne Menghraj, Pam Sporn and Dan Wiley

You can learn more about the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) at

anothercupdevelopment.org

CRIME by Alix Lambert

Alix Lambert photographed and interviewed me about my film The Wannabe for her new book, CRIME. She also photographed and interviewed the film’s lead actor, Ramon Rodriguez.



About the book:
How much do criminal acts and their representation in cinema, literature and music really have in common? Is the execution of crime in everyday life as appealing or as inspired as creative artists have made it seem since, say, Arthur Conan Doyle’s Professor Moriarty? Does the film industry continue to learn from the real-life Mafia, or have the imaginings of scriptwriters had their own effect on organized crime? And what experience do these people who mold our perceptions of crime and criminals have of the real thing? This remarkable book is the first to explore our images of crime by interviewing those involved on, in and around all sides of the law, both real and fictional, and often somewhere in between. Through a series of exclusive interviews with artists, authors and actors such as Ben Affleck, David Cronenberg, Elmore Leonard, Viggo Mortensen, Ice-T, David Mamet and Takeshi Kitano, as well as real life bank robbers, gangsters and current prison inmates, editor Alix Lambert (artist, photographer of Russian prisoners’ tattoos and writer for HBO’s Deadwood) explores the gaps and overlaps between real crime and its representation in the arts, each commenting on and assessing the impact of the other.

On Monday, March 3, 2008, I participated in a roundtable discussion entitled, Impossible Archives, at NYU’s Kevorkian Center.

ROUNDTABLE 2: IMPOSSIBLE ARCHIVES
This roundtable explored legal, historical, professional and artistic strategies for archiving impossible (unspeakable, unutterable, censored, undocumented, disappeared or disappearing) materials. We discussed the role of artists and activists as archivists of unofficial or suppressed histories; the various manifestations of archive fever; and the relationships between witnesses, testimony, memory and archives.

Participants: Orit + Tal Halpern, Leslie Hewitt, Ramzi Kassem, Althea Wasow, Martha Wilson. Moderators: Chitra Ganesh + Mariam Ghani

This event was part of TRACING THE INDEX: 4 DISCUSSIONS, 4 VENUES, a four-part series of roundtable discussions this March, organized by Index of the Disappeared (Chitra Ganesh + Mariam Ghani), hosted and co-sponsored by the Bronx Museum of the Arts, NYU’s Kevorkian Institute, the New School’s Vera List Center for Art + Politics, and Art in General.

Events in the TRACING THE INDEX series:

ROUNDTABLE 1: COLLABORATION + FEMINISM
SUNDAY, MARCH 2, 2008, 3:00 pm, Bronx Museum of Art

ROUNDTABLE 2: IMPOSSIBLE ARCHIVES
MONDAY, MARCH 3, 2008, 5:30 pm, Kevorkian Center, NYU ground floor library

ROUNDTABLE 3: COLLABORATION IN CONTEXT
WEDNESDAY MARCH 26, 2008, 6:30 pm, Art in General, 6th floor gallery

ROUNDTABLE 4: AGENCY AND SURVEILLANCE
MONDAY MARCH 31, 6:30 pm, Vera list Center for Art and Politics, New School for Social Research

David Lemus: Not Guilty.

On December 6, 2007, a jury in Manhattan State Supreme Court found David Lemus not guilty of murder in the 1990 Palladium nightclub shooting. David Lemus’s story inspired my short film The Wannabe.

The Wannabe Screening History

Festival International du Film Panafricain, Cannes, France, 4/08

Cine Las Americas International Film Festival, Austin, Texas, 4/08

Spaghetti Junction Urban Film Festival, Decatur, Georgia, 4/08

Africana Film Festival, Ramapo College, New Jersey, 3/08

MAGA Macon Georgia Film & Video Festival, Macon, 2/08
*First Place Award, Narrative Drama - Shorts

The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Boston, 2/08

TOMI Film Festival, ASHE Cultural Arts Center, New Orleans, 2/08

San Diego Black Film Festival, San Diego, 2/08

Legacy of Black Women Film Showcase, The Deltas of Charlotte, North Carolina, 1/08

Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School, Raul Julia Media Center, The Bronx, 12/07

Big Apple Film Festival, New York, 11/07

Dominican International Film Festival, Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, 11/07

Puerto Rico Fest 2007, Society of Educational Arts (Sociedad Educativa de las Artes, SEA), New York, 11/07

Puerto Rico Fest 2007, Institute for Puerto Rican Arts and Culture (IPRAC), Chicago, 11/07

Puerto Rico Fest 2007, La Paloma Sabanera Coffee House & Bookstore, Hartford, Connecticut, 11/07

Asheville Film Festival, Asheville, North Carolina, 11/07

Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (BAAD!), BlakTino Performance Series, The Bronx, 10/07

Harlem International Film Festival, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York, 10/07

Orlando Hispanic Film Festival, Florida, 10/07

Golden Lion Film Festival, Mbabane, Swaziland, 10/07

Urban Media Makers Film Festival, Atlanta, Georgia, 10/07
*Best Short Film 2007- Second Place Winner

New Hampshire Film Festival, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 10/07

LA Femme Film Festival, Los Angeles, 10/07

NYC Downtown Short Film Festival, 10/07

Reykjavik International Film Festival Talent Campus, Iceland, 10/07

LA Shorts Fest, Los Angeles, 9/07

Thin Line Film Fest, Denton, Texas, 9/07

CineSol Film Festival, South Padre Island, Texas, 9/07

Black Harvest Film Festival, Gene Siskel Film Center,
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 8/07

Roxbury Film Festival, Boston, 8/07

Cambridge Film Festival, Cambridge, England, 7/07

Urbanworld VIBE Film Festival, New York, 6/07

San Francisco Black Film Festival, San Francisco, 6/07

Hollywood Black Film Festival, Los Angeles, 6/07

Brooklyn Arts Council International Film & Video Festival, NY, 5/07
*Jurors’ Choice Award, Linkages: Women of African Descent
*BAC Recognition of Excellence, Acting- Male Lead: Ramon Rodriguez
*BAC Recognition of Excellence, Acting- Female Lead: Suzette Gunn

Silver Lake Film Festival, Los Angeles, 5/07

WorldFest - Houston International Film Festival, Houston, 4/07
*Platinum Remi Award - Best Music: Drazen Bosnjak and Oscar Hernández

Arizona Black Film Showcase, Phoenix, 3/07

Cleveland International Film Festival, Cleveland, 3/07

International Women’s Day Program: “Our Purpose, Our Creativity, Our Legacy” WPFW Pacifica Radio, Film Screening and 2-Hour Live Radio Show with LUNA (Luchando Unidas con Nuestras Amigas), Washington, DC, 3/07

National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) Annual Conference,
HBO Presents: The Short Film, Newport Beach, California, 3/07

Harlem Stage on Screen, New York, 3/07

Cinemafest Puerto Rico, San Juan, 11/06

African American Women in Cinema Film Festival, New York, 10/06

HBO New York International Latino Film Festival, New York, 7/06
*Best Short Film Award

Columbia University Film Festival, New York, 5/06
*IFP Audience Choice Award (Program G)
*Best Costume Design Award - Tere Duncan

Topic Magazine: The Queen of Spades

I am included in Topic magazine’s portfolio: Royal Flush “New York's Creative Downtown Royalty.” This feature is part of Topic Issue 10: Games.