RTF MFA Thesis Film, Dir. Tassos Rigopoulos, 1997
Synopsis:
“Texas and the Death Penalty” deals with the past and the present of capital punishment in the Lone Star State. After a brief historical overview, the film focuses on a specific case, that of Carl Kinnamon. Kinnamon, who was executed on December 11, 1994, never ceased to proclaim his innocence. The documentary retraces Kinnamon’s trial, life on death row and ultimate execution, through interviews with people who knew him and with the help of Kinnamon’s own artwork and letters. His little-known story serves as a prime example of how an “average” death penalty case is handled in Texas. TRT = 32 min.
Award:
Student Television Academy Award – Best Documentary, 1997
production drawing
Director bio:
Tassos Rigopoulos was born in Geneva, Switzerland in 1967 and grew up in Patras, Greece. He studied law at the University of Athens and filmmaking at the Lycurgus Stavrakos Film and Television School. While in Greece, he also worked as a production assistant and assistant director on feature films, shorts, commercials and television series.
With the financial support of the Hellenic State Scholarship Foundation, he joined the Master of Fine Arts program in film and video production at the University of Texas at Austin in 1992. His student film The Significant Other was a national finalist at the 1995 Student Academy Awards. “Texas and the Death Penalty,” his thesis film, won the 1997 Student Television Academy Award for best documentary, as well as ten other awards in festivals in the U.S. and abroad.
Other directing credits include the documentaries Greeks and Americans and I Spent Time With Making, a portrait of contemporary visual artist Lucas Samaras, currently in production. Tassos lives in New York and teaches film and video production at the Borough of Manhattan Community College and the New York Film Academy. He also works as a freelance video producer and editor.
All content on this page courtesy of Tassos Rigopoulos, and may not be copied, reproduced or otherwise redistributed without express permission. Info last updated 03/27/08.
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