3 1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets

3 1/2 Minutes film image

Screenings

2015 Season
New York, San Francisco

As the deaths of Jordan Davis, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Freddie Gray galvanize the public and begin to shape national dialogue and policy, the intimate and moving 3½ Minutes, Ten Bullets brings the conversation back home—to the impact felt by families across the country for whom reform can’t come fast enough. In November 2012 in Jacksonville, Florida, four unarmed African American teenagers stop at a gas station to buy gum and cigarettes. When a middle-aged white man parks beside them, an altercation begins over the volume of rap music playing in the teens’ car. In a matter of moments, Michael Dunn fires 10 bullets into their car, killing 17-year-old Jordan Davis instantly. Directed by Marc Silver (Who Is Dayani Cristal?), 3½ Minutes, Ten Bullets is a seamlessly constructed, riveting documentary that explores the danger and subjectivity of Florida's Stand Your Ground self-defense laws. The film weaves Dunn's trial with Jordan Davis's parents' wrenching experiences in and out of the courtroom. The result is a powerful story about the devastating effects of racial bias and the search for justice within the US legal system. Special Jury Award for Social Impact, US Documentary, Sundance Film Festival 2015   
Courtesy of Participant Media   3 1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets opens in theaters starting June 19th.

Filmmaker(s): 
Marc Silver
Country of Production: 
United States
Year: 
2015
98m
Language(s): 
English
Genre: 
Documentary
Filmmaker Bio(s): 
Marc Silver
Director

Documentary filmmaker, cinematographer and social impact strategist Marc Silver is creative director of The Filmmaker Fund, which supports independent documentaries devoted to unique stories of the human condition. His films include The Leech and the Earthworm (2003), the short Los Invisibles (2010; co-directed with Gael García Bernal), Who Is Dayani Cristal? (2013) and 3 1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets (2015). He is currently at work on a film about ayahuasca, neuroscience and global drug policy.

Film Website: 
3 1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets film website
Additional Media: 

HRW Film Festival - 3 1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets Q&A, NY 2015

The issue of race permeates virtually every aspect of the criminal justice process. Human Rights Watch has reported extensively on racial disparities within the US criminal justice system. 3½ Minutes, Ten Bullets is an important look at one family’s struggle to obtain justice after their son, Jordan Davis, was killed by a man who was seemingly driven by his own misperceptions of black male criminality. Through this story, the film raises serious questions about how black men are perceived in society and examines the use of self-defense claims when unarmed African American men are killed. 

To learn more on this topic visit HRW.org