At the Death House Door

Asia Pacific Premiere

A person’s views on the death penalty don’t just change. They evolve.

This film is an important and profoundly perspective story of Rev. Carroll Pickett, who started his career as a prison chaplain shortly before the death penalty was reinstated. He was the perfect subject: eloquent and emotional, bound to a major issue of our time, possessing the real-time perspective and experience to give the story heft. He was present at the first lethal injection. He comforted and walked inmates through the last minutes of their lives, including the killer of two of his parishioners.

While investigating the possible case of wrongful execution of Carlos De Luna, award winning co-directors Steve James and Peter Gilbert (of “Hoop Dreams”) met Pickett, who was present at De Luna’s execution, a botched procedure that took 11 long minutes. It was a pivotal step on Pickett’s own journey from a pro-capital punishment and dispassionate observer to unwilling participant, a man struggling to reconcile his complicated role in those deaths.

Pickett has spent the final day and moments with 95 inmates sentenced to death. After every execution, he made a cassette tape, recording the details of the day along with eloquent, poetic thoughts. "Those tapes…must be his tears," Pickett’s wife reflected to the filmmakers.

This film wouldn’t have half the impact without this flawed, spiritual man as centrepiece. Who else would have a better perspective on the death penalty?

Reverend Caroll J. Pickett is the story of the death penalty.