Film Screening: True Conviction

There's a new detective agency in Dallas, run by three exonerated men who all spent decades in prison. Their mission: to free other innocent people still behind bars.


After serving a combined 60 years in prison for crimes they did not commit, three recently exonerated Texans—Christopher Scott, Johnnie Lindsey, and Steven Phillips—join forces to form the unlikeliest of investigative teams, on a mission to help wrongfully convicted prisoners obtain freedom like they did. In True Conviction, brotherly bonds are formed out of shared hardships—lengthy prison sentences in a state that executes more inmates than any other.

Focusing on the cases of Max Soffar, a death row inmate of 35 years who was forced into a triple murder confession as a young man, and Isaiah Hill, sentenced to life in prison on aggravated assault charges after refusing a plea bargain, the trio logs in hundreds of miles digging up fresh evidence on behalf of their incarcerated clients. Through tenacity, hope, and determination, these real-life superheroes work together to rebuild broken lives and families as they campaign to fix the criminal justice system while still fighting demons of their own.

True Conviction won Special Jury Mention for Best Documentary Feature at the Tribeca Film Festival, Best Documentary Feature Grand Jury Prize at the Oak Cliff Film Festival, and Best Documentary at the Annapolis Film Festival. The film aired on PBS's Independent Lens in April 2018. 

A Q&A with one of the stars of the film, Christopher Scott, and filmmaker and Associate Professor Jamie Meltzer will follow the screening. 

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