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New York is the city that never sleeps, and with so many events and activities each week across all five boroughs, it can be hard to know what’s actually worthwhile. Here are the events New York City actors should have on their radars this week. Experience that Mad Day with the Beatles.Beginning May 31, Soho Contemporary Art will present various exhibitions and pieces as part of “Tom Murray’s the Beatles Collection, the Mad Day: Summer of ‘68.” Paying tribute to the infamous set of Beatles photos taken at maddash pace and that, ultimately, were the last ever snapped of the four publicly together, the presentation will include the full set of photographs, featuring some that have rarely if ever been seen, as well as statues and other pieces of work reflecting the iconic images, and will be ongoing through June 16. (Free) Join a coven with Amber Tamblyn and more.

When filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky arrived in West Memphis, Arkansas in June 1993, they came with an agenda: to document what looked like a new wave of alienated youth-turned-murderers. A few months earlier, two 10-year-olds in the U.K. had made headlines when they abducted, tortured and murdered a two-year-old, and now the filmmakers had read about the brutal murders of three eight-year-old boys ostensibly committed by teenage Satanists. It seemed like a trend. "We went down to make a film about guilty teenagers, like a real Rivers Edge,...

The home video announcement has come for the documentary West of Memphis, which opened way back on Christmas Day 2012 courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics; and it should provide one of the most intense, powerful movie experiences this year. Check out the art and specs!

From the Press Release

Academy Award®-winning producers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh (both 2003, Best Picture & Best Adapted Screenplay, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King) present West Of Memphis, available August 6th on Blu-ray™ and DVD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Directed by Academy Award® nominee Amy Berg (2007, Best Documentary - Feature, Deliver Us From Evil), this acclaimed documentary tells the powerful, untold story of the 18-year fight to free the “West Memphis 3,” three teenagers wrongfully convicted of the 1993 murders of three eight-year-old boy in West Memphis, Arkansas.

The film was the Official Selection at the 2012 Sundance and Toronto International Film Festivals,...

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Aug 6, 2013

Price: DVD $30.99, Blu-ray $35.99

Studio: Sony

Damien Echols in West of Memphis

The 2012 documentary film West of Memphis tells the remarkable the story surrounding the 1993 murders of three eight-year-old boys in the small town of West Memphis, Arkansas, and exposes the wrongful conviction of three teenagers—known as the West Memphis Three—who lost 18 years of their lives imprisoned for crimes they did not commit.

West of Memphis chronicles the untold story behind the extraordinary and desperate fight to re-open the case following the discovery of new forensic evidence which points to the convicted men’s innocence. A number of documentaries have been based on the case over the years, and celebrities and musicians have held fund raisers in the belief that they are innocent.

Directed and co-written by Amy Berg and Billy McMillin and co-produced by Lord of the Rings filmmakers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh...

There have been many feature-length documentaries over the years that have explored the same subject matter. Docs about the Holocaust have almost become a sub-genre (and usually get a slot in the Oscar nominations becoming a go to entry in Oscar ballot contests). There have been several about different wars, particularly World War II and Vietnam. Many profile celebrities and music genres. Then, there are the true crime films. Usually they begin with the crime, follow-through with the police investigation, and conclude with the trial. It’s a popular format on broadcast TV with CBS’s “48 Hours” and fictionalized with the long-running “Law and Order” franchise. There’s also a few cable channels just devoted to these stories. It’s still surprising that one true crime story has inspired countless TV reports and investigations in addition to four (!) full-length documentaries. I’m talking about the gruesome murder of three 8-year old boys in West Memphis,...

West of Memphis

Directed by Amy Berg

2012, USA

You might think you know the story of the West Memphis Three as it was covered extensively by the press and the Paradise Lost documentary trilogy throughout the last 18 years. Then comes along West of Memphis which brings to the table a closer, more intensely personal reading of the infamous tragedy that devastated so many lives but brought to light how political ambition, pride and ego can so easily corrupt the United States justice system.

Director Amy Berg (Deliver Us From Evil) encapsulates and condenses the length of the case by first presenting the facts which were previously the most widely known about the case. In 1993, three little boys were murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas. The bodies appeared to be hogtied, tortured and their privates mutilated in what was believed to be a satanic ritual. Three local teenagers who were branded by...