Clandestino Films launches crowdfunding campaign for The Last Prisoner
Esau Melendez
PRESS RELEASE
Contact Info: Esaú Meléndez
Clandestino Films
Chicago, Ill.
INDIEGOGO LINK
Release Date: March 17, 2014
Clandestino Films launches crowdfunding campaign for The Last Prisoner, a film about the fight to win the release of Oscar López Rivera, the last Puerto Rican political prisoner.
Clandestino Films launched and Indiegogo campaign to raises fund in order to continue production on the feature-length, documentary film The Last Prisoner. The campaign will run from March 17 to April 19. Funds raised through the campaign will be used to produce a full cut of the film. This is the second feature-length documentary by the Chicago filmmaking group. Their last film Immigrant Nation! won numerous awards at film festivals and aired nationally on PBS.
The Last Prisoner is a documentary that tells the story of the campaign to free Oscar López Rivera, the longest held Puerto Rican political prisoner. A decorated Vietnam veteran, and former community activist in Chicago, López Rivera also fought for Puerto Rico’s independence and, as a result, has been incarcerated for nearly 33 years for seditious conspiracy. Twelve of those years were spent in solitary confinement, though Oscar was never convicted of crimes that resulted in deaths or injuries or ever accused of any act of violence.
During the spring of 2013, on the 32nd anniversary of his incarceration, calls for his freedom rang out across Puerto Rico, in major U.S. cities, and echoed in various countries around the world. Artists, politicians, famous athletes and ordinary people went to symbolic prison cells on May 29, the anniversary of Oscar’s incarceration. Five Nobel Peace Prize Laureates have joined the movement for Oscar’s freedom including Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa.
The film’s director, Esaú Meléndez says, “The time to tell this story is now. This film can be a tool to help educate people about some history of the Puerto Rican people, Chicago’s Latino community and Oscar’s story in particular. We rarely see these stories.”
For more information contact, Esaú Meléndez at (773) 510-5001 or email him at esu...@gmail.com for more detailed information or visit the campaign website: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-last-prisoner/x/2476
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Director/Producer