In 1974, Bill Macumber was simply living his life, a former U.S. Army soldier, a father of three boys, with a good job. Suddenly, in August of that year, he was arrested and charged with a double murder, taken into police custody and thrust into a nightmare.

He has been in prison for the last 35 years, an innocent man serving time for a crime he did not commit. He has no chance for parole under Arizona’s “Old Code” life statute. His story is heartbreaking and incredible as it unfolds layer by layer.

In 2009, filmmaker Lesley Hoyt-Croft learned about the Arizona Justice Project’s work on the Bill Macumber case. As she researched the story and found out more about this incredible real-life tragedy, she began putting the pieces together to make a documentary called “Life.”

I am honored to be working as the DP with Lesley on this project. We traveled to Douglas, Arizona to meet Bill in the prison complex there, and flew to Denver to interview his son and family. The film will premiere at this year’s Phoenix Film Festival and the effort to free Bill Macumber continues even today thanks largely to the Arizona Justice Project. Please visit freedom4bill.com and lend your name to the petition and come out to see the film in April.

Here’s the short film 11:11 I made for my film production class at Tecnologico de Monterrey.   The film is in Spanish, but it tells the story of a depressed unemployed Andres, who is visited by missionaries extolling the virtues of the divine hour, 11:11.  This was shot on the Red One with Arri master prime T1.3 lenses.   The Youtube compression isn’t very flattering, but the source material for this film is amazing.  4k has no comparison.