CATASTROPHE CONVICTION

SYNOPSIS

When the Great Flood of 1993 devastated the American Midwest, the State of Missouri needed an answer. It found one in James Scott, a poor, uneducated man with a prior record who had the misfortune of being visible. Charged under an obscure 1979 law never used before or since, he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. More than thirty years later, he is still there, and on the heels of an upcoming parole hearing, the science, the witnesses, and the legal record are demanding to be heard.

TEAM BIOs

SNEHA ANTONY is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and investigative journalist whose work sits at the intersection of justice and institutional accountability. She trained at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and her work has been featured on VICE, Bustle, CNN, amongst others. Her 2022 VICE short documentary on James Scott's conviction reached 5.7 million viewers and brought a long-buried case back into the national conversation. Her work has been recognized with a Webby Award, a Telly Award, a Gracie Award, and a Lone Star Emmy.

LAURENCE MATHIEU-LÉGER is a Canadian-American award-winning documentary film and series director, producer, editor, as well as an investigative journalist. Her reporting for The Guardian contributed to the exoneration of Tyra Patterson after 23 years of wrongful imprisonment. Her work has been featured on major platforms such as Netflix, ESPN, NBC, and CBC GEM, amongst others.

GABRIELA DEMATTEIS is an Emmy Award-winning producer and filmmaker with nearly a decade of experience at VICE Media. Her documentary Ritos de Pasaje | Sicarios won the Emmy for Outstanding Feature Story in Spanish at the 44th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards. Other projects have been published on The New Yorker's digital site and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. She has worked with VICE Media, Refinery29, the Tribeca Film Festival, the Sundance Institute, Warner Bros. Television, CBS, Paramount Pictures, and Participant Media. She is a proud Mexican and Italian American filmmaker whose father is international photojournalist Lou Dematteis.

REBE MALARET is a film and television producer with an MMA from USC's Peter Stark Producing Program. She previously developed and packaged projects at Boardwalk Pictures, including Welcome to Wrexham and Chef's Table, and has worked with ARRAY, JuVee Productions, and Hello Sunshine on titles including Colin in Black & White, The Morning Show, and Little Fires Everywhere. She leads fundraising and development for Catastrophe Conviction.