Incendiary: The Willingham Case

Incendiary: The Willingham Case (2011)

Sometimes the truth goes up in flames

In 1991, Cameron Todd Willingham's three daughters died in a Corsicana, Texas house fire. Tried and convicted for their arson murders, Willingham was executed in February 2004 despite overwhelming expert criticism of the prosecution's arson evidence. Today, Willingham's name has become a call for reform in the field of forensics and a rallying cry for the anti-death penalty movement; yet he remains an indisputable "monster" in the eyes of Texas Governor Rick Perry, who ignored the science that could have saved Willingham's life. Equal parts murder mystery, forensic investigation and political drama, INCENDIARY documents the haunted legacy of a prosecution built on "folklore."

Date of release
2011-10-07
TMDB
6.3 / 10 (3)
Runtime
1h 39m
Genres
Documentary
Director
Steve Mims, Joe Bailey Jr.

Interesting facts

Incendiary: The Willingham Case is a 2011 documentary film by Steve Mims and Joe Bailey, Jr. that explores the conviction and execution of Cameron Todd Willingham for arson murder. Equal parts murder mystery, forensic investigation and political drama, the film meticulously reviews the arson evidence used to convict Willingham, and immerses audiences in contemporary struggles over the case.

Production

Joe Bailey, Jr., at the time a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas School of Law, was enrolled in Steve Mims' film production class at Austin Filmworks. (Mims, well known for instructing generations of noteworthy Austin film talent and as a director of narrative films and short documentaries, teaches at the University of Texas School of Radio Television Film and through Austin Filmworks.) Before Incendiary, Bailey had mostly documented…

Mims and Bailey have said that they avoided making a film about capital punishment, although the film, like the case, has been widely cited in discussions about the death penalty. The filmmakers began production with an interview of fire expert Gerald Hurst, the first scientist to review the arson evidence, just before Willingham's execution.

Mims and Bailey were drawn to the Willingham case by the elements of mystery and law chronicled in David Grann's iconic article in The New Yorker, "Trial By Fire."(see above) The film has been called a companion piece to Grann's article, picking up where Grann left off with its depiction of the more recent struggles over the case. The film also addresses the arson evidence first in its narrative, whereas Grann addresses it last.

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