Synopsis
USA 2018; 111 min.
In this captivating and cinematic investigation, a group of minority police officers fight to expose racially discriminatory policing practices in New York City. Filmmaker Stephen Maing spent years with the cops, employing secret undercover recordings and emotionally raw interviews to detail a widespread web of injustice, which continues to have disastrous consequences for communities of color. As the officers go public, the tension escalates. And the sympathetic policemen and women, such as Felicia Whitely, who must balance pregnancy with activism, and Edwin Raymond, an eloquent spokesperson and rising top cop, face pressure and retaliation from the powers-that-be. Winner of Sundance’s Special Jury Award for Social Impact and executive produced by Oscar-winner Laura Poitras (CitizenFour), Crime + Punishment is equal parts docu-thriller and “blood boiling” (The Hollywood Reporter) and “masterful” (POV Magazine) tale of tenacious whistleblowers, risking their livelihoods for the sake of a greater cause.
Screening: Friday, April 6th @ 9pm
Followed by Q+A with Sgt. Edwin Raymond
director bio
Stephen is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker and visual journalist. His feature documentary, High Tech, Low Life, about two of China's first dissident citizen-journalists, was broadcast on PBS's award-winning series POV. His short The Surrender received a 2016 World Press Photo Award for best documentary and an Emmy nomination for outstanding short documentary. Maing is a fellow of Sundance Institute's Documentary Film Program.
