'I Helped Four Women Get out of Prison:' Deborah Esquenazi on True-Crime Doc 'Southwest of Salem'

More than two decades after four Texas lesbians were sent to prison for child abuse, a documentary about their case has helped set them free.

Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four began as a righteous inquiry into the 1994 trials of Anna Vasquez, Elizabeth Ramirez, Cassandra Rivera, and Kristie Mayhugh, who were convicted of molesting two young girls under dubious forensic evidence and the “Satanic panic” hysteria of the time. But over the course of filming, director Deborah S. Esquenazi–who is also a radio journalist–acquired an onscreen recanted confession from one of the original accusers. With help from the Innocence Project of Texas, that set off a chain reaction leading to a retrial and the four women being released from prison (though they await a final say on whether they will be fully exonerated of the charges). And as a bonus, it allowed Esquenazi to get the funds she needed to finish her film.

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from No Film School http://ift.tt/1NqhFHJ