Hot Picks

American Trial: The Eric Garner Story

Type: Factual
Length: 1 x 101-minutes, 2 x 52-minutes
Producer: Platonic Films
Broadcaster: Reelz (US)

Espresso’s headline title during the Mipcom season is an innovative documentary special centred on the controversial death of black American Eric Garner in 2014. Video footage of Garner’s death at the hands of the New York Police went viral – with his final words – “I Can’t Breathe” – becoming symbolic of brutality against people of colour.

Espresso head of sales and acquisitions Amy Freshwater says: “The film explores what might have happened if the officer who killed Eric Garner, Daniel Pantaleo, had been brought to trial. It does this by engaging the services of two real legal teams to create a rigorous, legally based ‘trial that never happened’.

“It’s fictional, but makes painstaking efforts to present an even-handed account of what could have played out in court. There is no script, only one actor (playing Pantaleo) and a judge who is a defence lawyer.”

The show also calls on the kind of credible expert witnesses who would likely have been called to testify in a real trial. This includes retired cops who have testified in court as expert witnesses. To keep the narrative as authentic as possible, the film also calls on people connected to the death. “James Knight really is an eyewitness to the incident and sat with Eric Garner on July 17, 2014,” says Freshwater. “Dr. Baden and Dr. Hua are forensic pathologists who really reviewed the autopsy report. And Esaw Snipes, Eric’s widow, takes part.”

The hybrid fiction-documentary has already aired on Reelz in the US and is available from Espresso for rest of world, excluding UK. Freshwater says: “It’s a powerful, compelling production that is very timely given the recent resurgence of protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of the police in similar circumstances. We think it could find a home on a range of broadcasters and platforms.”