When a Witness Recants (2026)

Directed by

Dawn Porter

Genre

documentary, animation

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 52m

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This documentary looks at the case of three men wrongly convicted of a 1983 murder in Baltimore. It follows how their convictions were eventually overturned after 36 years in prison.

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What happens

When a Witness Recants is a 2026 American documentary film directed and produced by Dawn Porter and executive produced by author Ta-Nehisi Coates. Based on a 2021 New Yorker article by Jennifer Gonnerman, the film examines the wrongful convictions of Andrew Stewart, Ransom Watkins, and Alfred Chestnut—known as the Harlem Park Three—who were convicted as teenagers and spent 36 years in prison for the 1983 murder of 14-year-old DeWitt Duckett at Harlem Park Junior High in Baltimore, a crime they did not commit. The film premiered in the Premieres section of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival on January 27, 2026, and is distributed by HBO Documentary Films. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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