Brits to view EXECUTION

PRESS RELEASE (LONDON, UK & NEW ORLEANS, USA) [IMMEDIATE RELEASE] 
 
EXECUTION FILM AND FORMER DEATH ROW INMATE COME TO THE UK 
LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 27, 2007 - As the United Nations considers a call for a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty, the award-winning and controversial new film EXECUTION, starring former death row inmate William Neal “Billy” Moore, gets its first viewing in Europe. And after the show, the audience will have a chance to speak to Billy Moore and the film’s producer/director, Steven Scaffidi. 
 
EXECUTION is the story of two filmmakers who in 1995 hid cameras in the death chamber and recorded a man’s execution in the electric chair. The Warden confiscated their footage and hid it from the public for ten years before it was finally returned. 
 
EXECUTION is the only film to star an actual Chaplain and Prison Warden who have both worked on death row, along with a former death row inmate - and has been greeted with both controversy and critical acclaim across the US. 
 
Simon Shepherd, founder of Death Watch International which has arranged the showings, said: 
“We are delighted EXECUTION is coming to the UK, especially at this time, with the UN vote due to take place in early December. While it takes no particular position on the death penalty, it is one of the most important and thought-provoking films ever made on the issue.” 
 
Billy Moore, who stars as “The Condemned Man”, was on Georgia's death row for sixteen years and at one point only seven hours away from his own execution in the electric chair. He is the only man in America ever to be released from death row for a capital murder he was convicted of and had admitted to - and was freed thanks to the efforts of his victim’s family. He too hopes the film will get people thinking: 
 
“I hope by seeing this movie, and getting a chance to meet and talk to me in person, people will think a little bit more deeply about what it means for a state to take a man’s life.” 
 
And Donald Cabana, who stars as “The Warden” in EXECUTION and who, as Warden of Mississippi State Penitentiary, has personally overseen a number of executions, said: 
 
“This film takes the audience closer to the actual execution process than any film that's ever been made." 
 
EXECUTION will be screened at: Sussex University on Tuesday, December 4, 2007 at 6:30 PM; King’s College, London University on Wednesday December 5, 2007 at 6:00 PM; and the Institute of Criminology, Cambridge University, on Thursday December 6, 2007 at 4:00 PM. 
 
CONTACTS 
 
Steven Scaffidi - Producer & Director of EXECUTION, Ghost Rider Pictures, USA 
504 466 6256, grpictures@aol.com, www.ghostriderpictures.com 
 
Simon Shepherd - Founder of Death Watch International, London, UK 
07947 600787, info@deathwatchinternational.org, www.deathwatchinternational.org 
 
NOTES 
 
1. Members of the media are welcome to attend any of the three showings. 
 
2. Billy Moore, Steven Scaffidi and Simon Shepherd will be available for interviews from 4 to 7 December, and photo stills of the film can be provided. For more details please contact either Steven Scaffidi or Simon Shepherd. 
 
3. The Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly passed a draft resolution calling for a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty, on 15 November, 2007. The full General Assembly will vote on the resolution in early December. While it would be non-binding the resolution is strongly opposed by the minority of countries which retain the death penalty, including the US, China and many Islamic countries. 
 
4. EXECUTION has been screened at a number of festivals in the US, including the Houston International Film Festival, where it was an award winner, and the Moondance International Film Festival, where it was short-listed for best film. The film has also screened at many of the top American Universities including: Tulane University, The University of Southern Illinois, The University of North Carolina and The University of Oregon. 
 
5. Death Watch International is an anti-death penalty group based in the UK, which campaigns for an end to executions around the world. 
 
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