Jessie's Dad | |
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Directed by | Boaz Dvir |
Written by | Boaz Dvir |
Release date |
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Running time | 50 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $19,000 |
Jessie's Dad is a 2011 documentary film by Boaz Dvir. The film tells the story of Mark Lunsford, and his transformation from an uneducated truck driver to an activist after the murder of his daughter Jessica by a convicted sex offender [1] . As of June 2016, the film is currently on Hulu, available to the public. [2]
Before his daughter's murder, the tattooed, long-haired Harley rider drove a dump truck, lived with his church-going parents and spent most of his free time with his daughter. Jessie, as everyone in the small West Florida town of Homosassa called her, loved going to karaoke nights with her dad and playing outside in their mobile-home neighborhood. On February 24, 2005, John Couey broke into Jessie's bedroom and took her across the street to his trailer. He raped her, buried her alive, smothering her.
After his daughter's body was discovered, Lunsford embarked on a journey to pass Jessica's Law around the country. [3] It toughens penalties against sex offenders. So far, Lunsford has convinced 46 states to pass it.
The hour-long documentary follows Lunsford as he visits Capitol Hill and state capitols to urge lawmakers to increase penalties for persons convicted of offenses against children. The film offers a behind-the-scenes look at a single father haunted by the knowledge that a sex offender held his daughter within earshot for three days. [1]
Jessie's Dad was initially funded by a Carole Fielding Production Grant, along with a University of Florida research grant. Mark Lunsford, his parents and several other members of his family attended the 2008 screening of Jessie's Dad at the University of Florida. [4] [5] [6] Lunsford and the film received two standing ovations from a packed theater. Green Apple Entertainment is distributing Jessie's Dad, which is available from iTunes and Amazon, where it has received an average rating of 5 (the highest possible). Lifetime and Investigation Discovery have used a substantial amount of Jessie's Dad footage in their programs. The film has screened in several film festivals, where it has won top prizes, and prestigious venues, including Columbia University's satellite campus in Paris.
Dvir reflected on the film years later in an article in the Centre Daily Times: "As a documentary filmmaker, I change my mind about societal issues related to my projects much like kids experience growth — I only notice it months, sometimes years, later. Directing and producing "Jessie's Dad" [...] altered my point of view on mandatory sentencing." [7]
Response to the film has been positive thus far. Ted Leonsis of Monumental Sports & Entertainment called the film "tough to watch but essential film about parenting; about justice and about protecting the rights of children." [8]
Rupert James Hector Everett is an English actor. He first came to public attention in 1981 when he was cast in Julian Mitchell's play and subsequent film Another Country (1984) as a gay pupil at an English public school in the 1930s; the role earned him his first BAFTA Award nomination. He received a second BAFTA nomination and his first Golden Globe Award nomination for his role in My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), followed by a second Golden Globe nomination for An Ideal Husband (1999).
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Debra Jean Williams, better known under her former married name of Debra Lafave, is a convicted sex offender who formerly taught at Angelo L. Greco Middle School in Temple Terrace, Florida. In 2005, she pleaded guilty to lewd or lascivious battery against a teenager. The charges stemmed from a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old student in mid-2004. Lafave's plea bargain included no prison time, opting for three years of house arrest due to safety concerns, seven years of probation, and lifetime registration as a sex offender.
Jessica Marie Lunsford was an American nine-year-old girl from Homosassa, Florida, who was murdered in February 2005. Lunsford was abducted from her home in the early morning of February 24, 2005, by John Couey, a 46-year-old convicted sex offender who lived nearby. Couey held her captive over the weekend, during which she was raped and later murdered by being buried alive. The media extensively covered the investigation and trial of Couey.
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Daddy & Papa is a 2002 documentary film made by Johnny Symons. It explores same-sex parenting as seen in the lives of four families headed by male couples. The film also examines the legal, social, and political challenges faced by gay parents and their children.
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Vanessa Lynn Williams is an American singer, actress, model, producer, and dancer. She gained recognition as the first African-American woman to receive the Miss America title when she was crowned Miss America 1984, but resigned her title amid a media controversy surrounding nude photographs of her being published in Penthouse magazine. Thirty-two years later, Williams was offered a public apology during the Miss America 2016 pageant for the events.
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