3 ½ MINUTES

Invited

On the day after Thanksgiving 2012, Jordan Davis, an African American teenager, was shot and killed while sitting in a car with three friends at a gas station in Jacksonville, Florida. The assailant, Michael Dunn, a middle-aged white man, had confronted the teens about their loud music. He later claimed he saw a weapon, though none was ever found. 3½ MINUTES details the ensuing court case, which finally resulted in a verdict this past October, during a season of “Black Lives Matter” protests. Tragic American themes of racial prejudice and gun violence loom behind the film’s sensitive portraits of all involved. Davis’s parents are eloquent in their grief, and in their new public roles as agents of change working in their son’s memory. Dunn’s character is fleshed out as well, particularly by a series of revealing jailhouse phone calls to his fiancée, which are part of the public record. His understanding of who is the true “victim” of the encounter is chilling.  MM

Director

Marc Silver

Producers

Minette Nelson, Carolyn Hepburn

Editor

Emiliano Battista

Cinematographer

Marc Silver

Release Year

2015

Festival Year

2015

Country

United States

Run Time

98 minutes