Lillie & Leander: A Legacy of Violence
Lillie & Leander: A Legacy of Violence is a feature length documentary film that examines the case of a black man suspected of raping and murdering a white woman at the turn of the 20th century in Pensacola, Florida. In investigating the rape and murder of her great-great aunt Lillie Davis, Alice Brewton Hurwitz stumbles upon an explosive family secret. While newspaper accounts of the time reported the vigilante lynching of Lillie’s suspected black assailant Leander Shaw in fascinating detail, Hurwitz discovers that the men in her family exacted their own system of revenge. In one interview, an elderly relative recounts how the men in the family killed every black man who walked the road they lived on. The story seems to match the local mythology in this divided community. When the State Attorney gets involved, an investigation begins in full force. More than a crime investigation, Lillie & Leander addresses the racism that still simmers in many U.S. communities through a powerful, unforgettable tale of family secrets unlocked.
PRODUCER - Alice Brewton Hurwitz
Alice Hurwitz recently retired as Coordinator of Academic Support Services at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts Kanbar Institute of Film and Television. Educated at the University of Florida, the University of North Carolina, the University of Southern Mississippi and NYU, she pursued a career teaching art at public schools in North Carolina, Mississippi and Alaska. While studying for her Ph.D. at NYU, she directed an art gallery in the East Village. Influenced by film students, Alice recognized that documentary film was an appealing story-telling medium and began researching an old family story that became the basis of Lillie & Leander.
DIRECTOR/CO-PRODUCER - Jeffrey Morgan
Jeffrey Morgan works at Deutsch Advertising in New York where his first TV campaign as producer debuted during the 2006 Super Bowl. He won the company’s annual talent show three years in a row with F Train Productions ECLIPSED, WINDEX, and PAPER JAM. Born in California and raised in Alaska, he made 15 short films before completing high school and with financial assistance from his Native American tribe, the Fallon Paiute, graduated from the Kanbar Institute of Film and Television Production at NYU in 1999. He ranked among the top 10% of screenwriters in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Nicholl Fellowships in 2004 and earned a spot in the top 250 directors in Project Greenlight’s competition in two consecutive years. In 2005, he was one of 29 filmmakers selected by the Tribeca Film Institute All Access Connects Program.
