“This film is tearful, heart wrenching and riveting. My God, I did not know that women are being executed that often in the United States. The circumstance of these women stems from poverty, drugs, abuse, rape, incest and neglect. Dead Women Walking is about the real Me Too movement.”
STATE OF THE ARTS NYC
Nine vignettes that tell the stories of women facing execution in the United States. As the film moves closer and closer to a real execution, we learn about these women but their caretakers — family, fellow inmates, prison guards and administrators. A real glimpse inside our incarceration system. The director should be commended for this fictionalized tale that sheds light on a subject rarely if ever discussed.
FILM OVERVIEW
Dead Women Walking traces the final days of a series of women on death row, from two weeks before one inmate’s execution to mere minutes before another’s. As these narratives develop, the human toll of the death penalty—not only on the women convicted of violent crimes, but also on their families, prison officials, and ministers and counselors coaching them through their final days—comes into clear focus. There’s Wendy, for example, whose mother declines to visit her the day before her execution; Helen, who meets her 18-year-old son (Moonlight’s Ashton Sanders) for the first time since he was adopted shortly after her imprisonment; and Celine, who watches a documentary about her case and conviction while having her last meal.
Looming over Dead Women Walking are two questions: Why did they do it? And, more implicit and rarely asked: How does society grapple with women’s violence? There’s little clemency to be found for viewer and subjects in director Hagar Ben-Asher’s unflinching, nuanced film, which sheds light on the death penalty by using these microscopic narratives to ask macroscopic questions.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Born in Israel, Hagar Ben-Asher received a film degree from the Minshar School of Art in 2007. Her film, Pathways, premiered at the Cinéfondation in Cannes in 2007. Her feature debut, The Slut, which she wrote, directed, and starred in, also premiered at Cannes, and, in 2016, she released her most recent feature film, The Burglar.
CAST & CREDITS
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Director:Hagar Ben Asher
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Producer:Clara Levy, Lorne Hiltser, Michael M. McGuire
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Screenwriter:Hagar Ben Asher
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Cinematographer:David Stragmeister
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Executive Producer:Patrick Holzman, Philippe Haim, David Gitlis
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Co-Producer:Marina Stabile
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US Distributor:blackpills
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Cast:Dale Dickey, Dot Marie Jones, Lynn Collins, Colleen Camp, Joy Nash, June Carryl, Maya Lynne Robinson, Maya Eschet, Jeryl Prescott
Photo images: June Carryl, Joy Nash, Bess Rous
Female executions 1900 – 2015. | ||||||
Name | Approx Age |
State | Execution date mm/dd/yy |
Method | Race | Crime |
Dora Wright | 38 | Oklahoma | 07/17/03 | Hanging | Black | Murder of a seven year old girl. |
Mary Rogers | 23 | Vermont | 12/08/05 | Hanging | White | Murder of husband. |
Mary O’Brien Farmer | 29 | New York | 03/29/09 | Electrocution | White | Ax murder of neighbor. |
Virginia Christian | 17 | Virginia | 08/16/12 | Electrocution | Black | Murder of Mrs. Ida Virginia Belote. |
Pattie Perdue | – | Mississippi | 01/13/22 | Hanging | Black | Murder of white man. |
Ann Knight | – | Mississippi | 10/13/22 | Hanging | Black | Murder of husband. |
Ruth Snyder | 32 | New York | 01/12/28 | Electrocution | White | Murder of husband. |
Ada LeBoeuf | 38 | Louisiana | 02/01/29 | Hanging | White | Contract murder of husband. |
Selena Gilmore | – | Alabama | 01/24/30 | Electrocution | Black | Shooting murder of waiter. |
Eva Dugan | 51 | Arizona | 02/21/30 | Hanging | White | Murder of employer. |
Irene Schroeder | 22 | Pennsylvania | 02/23/31 | Electrocution | White | Shooting of policeman. |
Anna Antonio | 28 | New York | 09/08/34 | Electrocution | White | Contract killing of husband. |
Julia Moore | – | Louisiana | 02/08/35 | Hanging | Black | Murder of Elliot Wilson. |
May Carey | 55 | Delaware | 06/07/35 | Hanging | White | Murder of her brother. |
Eva Coo | 40 | New York | 06/27/35 | Electrocution | White | Murder of lodger. |
Mary Francis Creighton | 38 | New York | 07/16/35 | Electrocution | White | Poisoning of landlady. |
Mary Holmes | 35 | Mississippi | 04/29/37 | Hanging | Black | Robbery murder of her employer. |
Marie Porter | 38 | Illinois | 01/28/38 | Electrocution | White | Murder of her brother. |
Anna Marie Hahn | 32 | Ohio | 12/07/38 | Electrocution | White | Poisoning for gain. |
Ethel Juanita Spinelli | 52 | California | 11/21/41 | Lethal gas (first) | White | Murder of a member of her gang. |
Toni Jo Henry | 26 | Louisiana | 11/28/42 | Electrocution | White | Shot a man in a vain attempt to free her husband from prison. |
Rosanna Phillips | 26 | N. Carolina | 01/01/43 | Lethal gas | Black | Axe murder of employer. |
Sue Logue | 43 | S. Carolina | 01/15/43 | Electrocution | White | Murder of sheriff. |
Mildred Johnson | 23 | Mississippi | 05/19/44 | Electrocution | Black | Beat her landlady to death. |
Helen Fowler | 36 | New York | 11/16/44 | Electrocution | Black | Robbery/murder of customer. |
Bessie Mae Smith (Williams) | 19 | N. Carolina | 29/12/44 | Lethal gas | Black | Murder of a taxi driver. |
Lena Baker | 44 | Georgia | 03/05/45 | Electrocution | Black | Shooting her employer. Pardoned in 2005 |
Corinne Sykes | 20 | Pennsylvania | 10/14/46 | Electrocution | Black | Stabbing her employer |
Rosa Marie Stinette | 49 | S. Carolina | 01/17/47 | Electrocution | Black | Contract killing of husband |
Louise Peete | 64 | California | 04/11/47 | Lethal gas | White | Shooting of lady supervising her parole. |
Martha Jule Beck | 30 | New York | 03/08/51 | Electrocution | White | Drowning a child |
Ethel Rosenberg | 38 | Federal (New York) |
06/19/53 | Electrocution | White | Espionage. Executed with her husband, Julius. |
Earle Dennison | 55 | Alabama | 09/04/53 | Electrocution | White | Poisoning of niece. |
Bonnie Brown Heady | 41 | Federal (Missouri) | 12/18/53 | Lethal gas | White | Kidnap & murder of a 6 year old boy. Executed with her lover, Carl Hall |
Blanch “Dovie” Dean | 54 | Ohio | 01/15/54 | Electrocution | White | Poisoned her husband. |
Betty Butler | 26 | Ohio | 06/12/54 | Electrocution | Black | Murder of lesbian friend. |
Barbara Graham | 32 | California | 06/03/55 | Lethal gas | White | Robbery murder. |
Rhonda Belle Martin | 50 | Alabama | 10/11/57 | Electrocution | White | Poisoning husband, plus 5 others. |
Elizabeth Duncan | 58 | California | 08/08/62 | Lethal gas | White | Murder of daughter in law. |
Velma Barfield | 52 | N. Carolina | 11/02/84 | Lethal Injection | White | Poisoning of husband(s). |
Karla Faye Tucker | 37 | Texas | 02/03/98 | Lethal Injection | White | Pick ax murders. |
Judias Buenoano | 54 | Florida | 03/30/98 | Electrocution | White | Husband murders. |
Betty Lou Beets | 62 | Texas | 02/24/00 | Lethal Injection | White | Husband murders. |
Christina Riggs | 28 | Arkansas | 05/03/00 | Lethal Injection | White | Murder of her two children. |
Wanda Jean Allen | 41 | Oklahoma | 01/11/01 | Lethal Injection | Black | Murder of her lesbian lover. |
Marilyn Kay Plantz | 40 | Oklahoma | 05/01/01 | Lethal Injection | White | Contract killing of her husband. |
Lois Nadean Smith | 61 | Oklahoma | 12/04/01 | Lethal Injection | White | Murder of son’s former girlfriend. |
Lynda Lyon Block | 54 | Alabama | 05/10/02 | Electrocution | White | Murder of police officer. |
Aileen Wournoss | 46 | Florida | 10/09/02 | Lethal Injection | White | Serial killer of seven men. |
Frances Newton | 40 | Texas | 09/14/05 | Lethal Injection | Black | Murder of her husband & 2 children. |
Teresa Lewis | 41 | Virginia | 09/23/10 | Lethal Injection | White | Contract killing of her husband & stepson. |
Kimberly McCarthy | 52 | Texas | 06/26/13 | Lethal Injection | Black | Robbery murder of elderly neighbor. |
Suzanne Basso | 59 | Texas | 02/05/14 | Lethal Injection | White | Torture murder of her “boyfriend” for gain. |
Lisa Ann Coleman | 38 | Texas | 09/17/14 | Lethal Injection | Black | Murder of her girlfriends son |
Kelly Renee Gissendaner | 47 | Georgia | 09/30/15 | Lethal Injection | White | Contract killing of her husband. |