The possibility of a fourth movie, to explore what happens after the West Memphis Three, is present in more than a few minds.įilmmaker: What do you hope audiences will take away from this installment?īerlinger: Sadly, the American justice system has devolved to the point where justice is not about the search for the truth but who presents the best story - and who has the most money to tell that story. But the first question on everybody’s mind is -– now, what happens? How do these men’s lives continue beyond the interruption of eighteen years of prison? How does it feel for Damien to walk from death row into a marriage he has never experienced before? There is a tremendous amount of interest in these men’s lives. Sinofsky: As far as we know, this is the final movie about the West Memphis Three. Maybe it’s the start of a new era with a happier conclusion.

However, there is a lot of talk of doing a fourth film and if HBO believes there is an audience for a fourth film, we certainly want to keep that door open. Who is guilty? Who is innocent?įilmmaker: Do you think this will be the final movie you will do on the West Memphis 3?īerlinger: For us, it feels like the end of an era after devoting nearly two decades to this case. Beyond the events, the movie presents questions about how justice is served in America and questions about culpability. Sinofsky: Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory is a continuation of the trilogy which started with Paradise Lost and Paradise Lost 2: Revelations. However, for fans of the series, old facts are reexamined, new evidence is revealed and new suspects are scrutinized. In our latest installment, we tried to make the film a self-sufficient viewing experience, so that you don’t have to have seen the previous films to fully comprehend this complicated case. Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory chronicles the 18-year odyssey of Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley, three teens incarcerated for a horrifying crime they maintain they did not commit. With a new ending premiering at the New York Film Festival, Berlinger and Sinofsky must now decide if this is when they put down their cameras or if there’s a story after the freeing of the West Memphis 3.įilmmaker: Tell us a little about what your film is about?īerlinger: It’s rare that filmmakers have an opportunity to cover a story with an 18 year perspective and involvement, where the passage of time changes the nature of the information you have gathered. But weeks before finishing the cut for TIFF news broke that the West Memphis 3 would be freed. The 18 year journey for the filmmakers that has led to the sequel, Paradise Lost 2: Revelations and support from celebrities like Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder and Johnny Depp was to conclude with Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory. Coerced confessions as well as questionable evidence and testimony made viewers uncertain if the three defendants - Jessie Misskelley, Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin - were guilty and the fight to free the West Memphis 3 was born. The film, Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, gave the trail nationwide interest as Berlinger and Sinofsky revelaed a case that was hardly open and shut. In the mid ’90s filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky traveled to West Memphis, Arkansas for a documentary they were making for HBO on the gruesome murders of three boys and the trial of the three teens who were charged. In Directors, Interviews, TIFF, TIFF Featuresīruce Sinofsky, Documentary, HBO, Joe Berlinger, Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, Toronto International Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival 2011

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