Be one of the first to see Gabriel London’s innovative documentary and festival favorite The Life and Mind of Mark Defriest. Gabriel London will be at the Cosford Cinema for a Q+A following the film.
The University of Miami School of Law and Bill Cosford Cinema presents a special event, The Life and Mind of Mark Defriest, featuring a Q+A with director Gabriel London by Saturday, November 8 at 7p.m. This special event celebrates the Cosford Cinema’s projection upgrade to a brand new 4K 3D digital projector. Tickets are a special price for this event at only $5. Tickets for UM Students are free.
“We are extremely pleased to bring this important film to the community,” said Trae DeLellis, director of the Cosford Cinema. “So many documentaries cover past events, but The Life and Mind of Mark Defriest concerns the future of a man’s life. It needs to be seen urgently and exposes important issues going on in today’s legal and penal systems concerning mental illness.”
The Life and Mind of Mark Defriest tells the story of Mark DeFriest, compared to Houdini for his multiple and improbable jailbreaks, who was condemned to Florida’s worst prison after a lone psychiatrist reversed four court appointed psychiatrists and declared Mark was faking mental illness. More than 30 years later, Mark is still struggling to understand how to survive a rigid and unforgiving system, while his remaining supporters forge an unlikely alliance to argue for his freedom in front of the Florida Parole Commission. Along they way, they uncover linger questions as to whether Mark should have ever been sent to prison, yet face the daunting task of explaining why a notorious trouble maker deserves to go free.
INDIEWIRE calls the film “powerful,” and proclaims, “There’s simply no way to come out of this film feeling that justice exists in any way in this man’s life. It’s a curious, infuriating and haunting tale, and an accomplishment of documentary filmmaking.” The Life and Mind of Mark Defriest is even more timely as Mark DeFriest will be going before the Florida Parole Board on Wednesday, November 19. This documentary is an opportunity to see a story that is still unfolding as you are watching.
The Life and Mind of Mark Defriest screens Saturday, November 8 at 7:00 p.m. for one time only and with Q+A. The Bill Cosford Cinema is located at 5030 Brunson Drive on the second floor of the Memorial Building on UM’s Coral Gables campus across from Doctor’s Hospital. For more information, visit www.cosfordcinema.com.
