Strong Island Films Chat New Film Before Buffalo Int. Film Fest

Strong Island Films is honored to announce their upcoming International film festival screenings this Fall. The husband-wife production company duo behind Strong Island Films, Rob and Cindy Dorfmann, are bringing Making An Exoneree to center stage at the International Social Change Film Festival, Buffalo International Film Festival and Peachtree Village International Film Festival.

Documenting the journey of 16 Georgetown undergraduates as they reinvestigate four wrongful conviction cases, Making An Exoneree showcases the students' resilience and hard work as they battle the legal system in an attempt to free 4 prisoners: Valentino Dixon, John Moss III, Timothy Wright and Kenneth Bond who they believe have been wrongfully incarcerated. Led by Marc Howard an energetic professor and Marty Tankleff, an exoneree turned lawyer motivated by reforming the judicial process, the documentary reinvestigates the cases in depth as they fight to prove their innocence. As they interview new witnesses, revisit crime scenes and connect with key figures in the cases, they find themselves immersed in the fragility of innocence over truth and experience the wins and losses of our prison system.

We had the honor of speaking with Rob and Cindy Dorfmann from Strong Island Films regarding their careers, "Making an Exoneree," and branching into new territories.

How did you team up for Strong Island Films? As a husband and wife duo, when did you create the production company?

Cindy and I met on a Nat Geo show many years before we were a couple. When Cindy was living in London she had a production company, I was living in LA and had a production company. After reconnecting in 2013, we decided it would be the best thing to unite not only in work but in life- We created our production company and got married!

What inspired you to film and produce “Making an Exoneree”? How did you realize there was a story there?

Cindy went to high school with Marty Tankleff and Marc Howard. For years, Cindy followed Marty's story and was thrilled to hear about his exoneration in 2008. We produced Marty's story for Discovery ID in 2016. A year later, Cindy and I were finishing up a show in DC when Marc and Marty invited us to meet at the Tombs a local bar on the Georgetown campus. Over beers, the four of us discussed the idea of making a documentary about a new class that they were creating: "Making an Exoneree". Cindy and I went home thinking is this possible? Could we do this? What were we going to shoot? What if nothing happened? Both of us are passionate about criminal justice and this was an opportunity to possibly witness a life changing event- getting someone out of prison. We knew that we had to take action this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. We cleared our schedule and agreed to not take any work for the next six months. If we were going to do this we needed to commit 100 percent- but it wasn't easy we were skeptical. It took so many years for Marty to get out of prison would we really be able to get someone out of jail? We had no idea what was going to happen but as we began shooting the students everyday, we went into the field with them, showed them what we do as true crime producers and they were morphing before our eyes from students into citizen sleuths! Motivated by the passionate students, the stories took on a life of their own, the cases were getting attention and we were lucky enough to be there to document this journey.

What was the experience like working among the undergraduates for the film? How did you see their confidence change in their cases throughout filming?

The students were incredible, from the beginning they were so passionate and dedicated to uncovering the truth they were very inspiring. However, there were times when the students would hit a wall and get discouraged about what they would be able to accomplish in such a short period of time. When the students went to the prisons to meet with their incarcerated individual- that is when everything came together. Now it was real, this wasn't just a class anymore, this was about a person who was trusting them with their life. It's a big responsibility for a college kid to have ! As they got deeper into their cases, uncovering the layers of injustice and corruption their confidence grew and it was amazing to watch.

What was the experience like working with the incarcerated and their families for the film?

The families for us were the most intense experience because in our work as true crime producers we end up getting very close to the victim's families and this was on the flip side- now we were dealing with the families of the incarcerated who were also victims but in a different way. We were usually fighting for the victim who could no longer speak for themselves and now there were victims who were speaking and had been speaking for years but no one was listening...until now. As we learned the details of their heartbreaking stories, we became emotionally invested in these people and it motivated us to work harder to help them. It wasn't long before their fight became our fight and even now we continue to pursue justice for the the men who are still in prison.

How did you come into contact with and team up with Marc Howard and Marty Tankleff for the film?

Congratulations on your new partnership with Arrested Industries! What can you tell us about the collaboration and how will that expand the Strong Island Films brand? We are so excited to partner up with Arrested Industries! They are an amazing creative team and we are thrilled to work with them on not only "Making an Exoneree" as a series but to also expand Strong Island Films into the scripted world.

How has your background and accolades in television and film help to build not only the Strong Island Films name, but awareness for “Making an Exoneree” as well?

Both Cindy and I have over 20 plus years in the entertainment industry covering Wars, international politics, and the criminal justice system. "Making an Exoneree" is a culmination of our shared experiences in those worlds and has allowed us to continue our passion for telling compelling real life stories that hopefully will create a dialogue for change.

You have a a few film festivals coming up this Fall; what are you most excited about as the circuit has opened up this year?

When we started submitting to festivals we were fully aware that the 3 hour running time was going to scare programmers away! We tried to cut the film down to one hour but didn't want to lose the raw emotion of the kids. We are humbled and proud of the amazing positive and emotional responses that we have been receiving from festivals. When a programmer calls you and says this is the most powerful film we have ever seen on wrongful convictions we know that we did our job and told these stories properly.

As we are in the last few months of 2021, what does the next year hold for Strong Island Films?

Next year is going to be an exciting year for us, we are branching into the podcast world with Partners in True Crime that is an active investigation series, we have exclusive access on a few true crime stories that we are going to be developing for non-scripted and scripted. We are also anticipating that "Making an Exoneree" will become a series following new students and new cases.

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Making An Exoneree will be screening at the following festivals:

OCT 7, 2021 - BUFFALO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
https://www.buffalofilm.org
Buffalo International Film Festival champions regional, national, and international films that push the limits of independent cinema. BIFF is committed to amplifying diverse voices and exhibiting cutting-edge programming in narrative, documentary and experimental film.

OCT 21-23 PEACHTREE VILLAGE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (Virtual Screening)
https://www.pviffatl.com
An Oscar qualifying festival, the Peachtree Village International Film Festival is an international film, music, and tech festival featuring some of the world’s Best-In-Class indie and mainstream content.