Screening: The Central Park Five + Q&A

The screening will be followed by a Q&A via Skype with directors Sarah Burns and David McMahon.

In April 1989, five black and Hispanic teenagers from Harlem were arrested for the brutal assault and rape of a white woman in Central Park. The youths confessed and were sentenced to long prison terms. While the last of them was still incarcerated, a serial rapist also serving time admitted that he had committed the crime.

The Central Park Five by award-winning director Ken Burns, his daughter Sarah Burns and her husband David McMahon, gives a detailed reconstruction of the crime, and the punishments meted out. Set against the backdrop of a city where incidents of violence are high and divides in class and race are deepening, the film tells a grim story of how law enforcement agencies, social institutions and the media undermined the very rights of the individuals they were designed to safeguard and protect.

Directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon
Duration: 119′
Year: 2012

This screening is in partnership with PBS America. The Central Park Five premieres in the UK on PBS America (Sky 534 and Virgin 243) at 9pm on Tuesday 22 and Wednesday 23 October.