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New York demands documentary footage
(CNN) - New York City is demanding that documentary filmmaker Ken Burns hand over footage of the movie he made about five men who were wrongfully imprisoned and later exonerated for the rape of a woman in Central Park.
The demand is part of the city's attempt to defend itself against multi-million dollar federal lawsuits filed by some of the "The Central Park Five," as the exonerated men had come to be known.
Lawyers for New York City filed a subpoena demanding Burns and his production company, Florentine Films, give them the unpublished interviews and unreleased footage not used in the documentary, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
"The plaintiffs' interviews go to the heart of the case and cannot be obtained elsewhere," said Celeste Koeleveld, a city attorney.
But Burns, along with his daughter, Sarah Burns, and her husband David McMahon, who co-wrote and produced the film, say they plan to fight.
"I'm sorry to say we saw this coming," said Burns. "New York State shield laws are very specific. We are journalists, and that's what this is."
Burns was referring to state laws designed to protect journalist from having to compromise their sources. The filmmaker says he finds irony in the city's request for the footage because he says he and his crew had been trying to get city officials in front of the camera for interviews for years, but to no avail.
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(CNN) - New York City is demanding that documentary filmmaker Ken Burns hand over footage of the movie he made about five men who were wrongfully imprisoned and later exonerated for the rape of a woman in Central Park.
The demand is part of the city's attempt to defend itself against multi-million dollar federal lawsuits filed by some of the "The Central Park Five," as the exonerated men had come to be known.
Lawyers for New York City filed a subpoena demanding Burns and his production company, Florentine Films, give them the unpublished interviews and unreleased footage not used in the documentary, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
"The plaintiffs' interviews go to the heart of the case and cannot be obtained elsewhere," said Celeste Koeleveld, a city attorney.
But Burns, along with his daughter, Sarah Burns, and her husband David McMahon, who co-wrote and produced the film, say they plan to fight.
"I'm sorry to say we saw this coming," said Burns. "New York State shield laws are very specific. We are journalists, and that's what this is."
Burns was referring to state laws designed to protect journalist from having to compromise their sources. The filmmaker says he finds irony in the city's request for the footage because he says he and his crew had been trying to get city officials in front of the camera for interviews for years, but to no avail.
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