Dear Zachary - Gen Art Cinema Circle presented by Don Julio

On Tuesday, October 28th, Gen Art was proud to host an intimate Cinema Circle screening of Kurt Kuenne's deeply personal and heart-wrenching documentary Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father at the Tribeca Grand Screening Room.

Gen Art members & industry guests were joined by the film's director, Kurt Kuenne, for a special Q+A moderated by Gen Art's Aaron Levine.

The Q+A was followed by an intimate cocktail reception where guests mingled with the filmmaker and sampled the different marks of Don Julio Tequila and enjoyed SoNu water. Additional support for the event was provided by Acura, American Express and Time Out New York.

An alumnus of Gen Art's film program, Kurt won the Acura Grand Jury Award for his short film Validation at The Gen Art Chicago Film Festival in 2007, and his short film Slow was a finalist in the Delta Fly-In Movies competition last winter.

For more information on the film visit http://www.dearzachary.com

See photos from this event here:
http://www.genart.org/album.htm?itemid=2008_10_DearZachary_NYC

SYNOPSIS:
On November 5th, 2001, Andrew Bagby was murdered in a parking lot in Western Pennsylvania; the prime suspect, his ex-girlfriend Dr. Shirley Turner, promptly fled the United States for St. Johns, Canada, where she announced that she was pregnant with Andrews child. She named the little boy Zachary.

Kurt Kuenne, Andrews oldest friend, began making a film for little Zachary as a way for him to get to know the father hed never meet. But when Shirley Turner was released on bail in Canada and was given custody of Zachary while awaiting extradition to U.S., the films focus shifted to Zacharys grandparents, David and Kathleen Bagby, and their desperate efforts to win custody of the boy from the woman they knew had murdered their son.

What happened next, no one ever could have foreseen coming

One of the best movies I have ever seen in my entire life a film that will rock you to your core. You will cry. You will hurt -- and this film will sit with you for days, weeks, months. But you will come away believing in people. Believing that even where there is evil, there is also a tremendous amount of good. Erik Davis - Cinematical.com

The Gen Art Cinema Circle presented by Don Julio gives access to filmmakers and the filmmaking process. An intimate screening for 100 people will take place at beautiful Tribeca Grand Screening Room followed by intensive Q&A sessions with a reception to follow.

Additional support provided by Acura, American Express, Time Out New York and Sonu water

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Kurt
• Kuenne
• Dear
• Zachary
• Gen
• Art
• Cinema
• Circle

[acmilan8mf11]

I watched Dear Zachary a couple of weeks ago. I was not prepared for the ending. It angers me that the Canadian court system gave this maniac a license to kill Zachary. It amazes me how many rights the accused have and how little rights the victims have. It seems that way no matter where you live. I wish the family well. My prayers are with them in their fight to change the laws so that this may never happen again.

[FreeUpYourMind]

amazing, amazing film. By far one of the best documentaries I have seen to date.

[rcameronswindsor]

@JamesTKirkCobain How you made this film political against the right or the left is retarded. You should be ashamed of yourself, oh, and go to Hell.

[TheHouseOffice]

I don't think you CAN be prepared for this movie. You just have to watch it. You WILL get emotionally raped, and seriously traumatized, but you sympathize greatly with and admire Andrew's friends and family for their unbelievable strength. And hopefully you'll appreciate the life you have a little more.

[tbl35]

@JamesTKirkCobain That is about the dumbest conclusion I've ever heard. This happened in CANADA, moron. Can't expect a soulless righty to comprehend what was going on in the film, I guess!

[DamnItNanet]

This movie helped by adding an amendment to Canada's criminal code, giving courts the right to refuse bail to someone charged with a serious crime who is deemed a potential danger to children under the age of 18, back in December of 2010. At least there was some good, a step in the right direction, to come from this tragedy <3

[JamesTKirkCobain]

I saw this movie, and what I got from it was the evil of liberals. Plain and simple. They will allow babies to be killed rather than turn on their insane ideology. You think a Republican conservative would stand for this? That bitch would have been doing life, with the baby nowhere near her psycho ass. Why anyone would vote for a Democrat is something I'll never understand in a billion years.

[mcm650]

just watched it in "dateline"...

My heart goes out to the grandparents of Zachary....

[cynthiacher]

Incredible movie. It broke my heart. But I came away with such admiration for David and Kate Bagby. They are two of the most amazing people on earth.

[aestusmaris]

@Julietjeske I watched it on saturday and It still goes through my mind. One of the best documentaries I have ever seen, and even with it's grim and sad subject matter, there's still inspiration to find in it. Genius

[lzlsanatomy]

Andrew's parents are heroes. If that happened to me, I'm not sure I'd want to go on living. I'm sure their activism will prevent other victims from the same fate.