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Fox Picks Up Joe Berlinger Produced West Memphis Three Series, CBS 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' & More

By Kevin Jagernauth
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October 23, 2012 4:16 PM
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1 Comment

Television

Things have been buzzing over at Fox and CBS it seems for the past day or two as the network has been busy lining up a number of projects that they hope will develop into bonafide hits, and it features everything from an acclaimed documentarian creating a series inspired by his own career, to a pretty shitty sitcom borrowing the title of one of the biggest songs in rock history. Go forth, we shall...

By Todd Gilchrist
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January 28, 2012 9:56 AM
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1 Comment

News

If there was a shortlist of the best documentarians in cinema history, Joe Berlinger would definitely be on it. His first theatrical project was “Brother’s Keeper,” an award-winning portrait of a rural family that found a context in the divide between country and city life; his second was “Paradise Lost,” a film that exposed the vagaries of the American justice system, spawned two follow-ups, and was ultimately instrumental in helping the West Memphis Three prevail over the injustices they suffered. Since then, he’s continued to dominate the landscape of documentary filmmaking with projects on both film and TV. However, hot on the heels of his Academy Award nomination for “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory,” he's back with “Under African Skies,” a documentary about the creation and cultural history of Paul Simon’s landmark 1987 album Graceland.

By Todd Gilchrist
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January 26, 2012 10:01 AM
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12 Comments

News

For almost 20 years, documentarian Joe Berlinger (along with Bruce Sinofksy) has chronicled the complicated history of the West Memphis Three, a trio of Arkansas teenagers who were found guilty of a triple homicide despite questionable evidence. His first film about the trial, “Paradise Lost,” was released in 1996; Part 2, 'Revelations' followed in 2000, and Part 3, 'Purgatory,' just received a nomination for Best Documentary at this year’s Academy Awards. Berlinger never aspired to be the only filmmaker or news outlet pursuing the story, and in the last year or so, a couple of high-profile projects were initiated about the trial, including the documentary “West of Memphis,” produced by Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh and directed by Amy Berg, and an adaptation of the book “Devil’s Knot,” an account of the crimes written by Mara Levirett, with Atom Egoyan set to direct and Reese Witherspoon to star.

By The Playlist
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October 10, 2011 2:59 AM
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3 Comments

Documentary Filmmakers Of The 'Paradise Lost' Movies Talk The Challenges Of Making Films About Wrongly Convicted MenIt’s not easy to distill the story of the West Memphis Three and the three “Paradise Lost” documentaries (though reading our review of “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory” might provide some pretty good context).

By Kevin Jagernauth
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August 24, 2011 3:13 AM
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1 Comment

Peter Jackson & Fran Walsh Funding Hunt For Actual Killers; HBO Wouldn't Mind A 'Paradise Lost 4'For more than fifteen years, director Joe Berlinger (along with Bruce Sinofsky) has been tracking the tragic story of the West Memphis Three in his "Paradise Lost" documentaries, and late last week bittersweet justice was served: Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelle were freed under under a plea deal that will still leave with them the stain of a guilty verdict (all orchestrated so they can't sue for wrongful prosecution) even though they had nothing to do with the horrific child murders. And we'll have more on that in a moment, but for now, Berlinger has a much more lighthearted project on the way that should excite music fans.