Residents of Chattanooga, Tennessee are being treated to the public premiere of a documentary about a very famous Federal Court trial held there in 1964.
For their recent 2008 judicial conference in May, the Chattanooga Chapter of the Federal Bar Association commissioned Balancing the Scales: the Chattanooga Trial of U.S. v. James R. Hoffa, a documentary about an early and somewhat forgotten “trial of the century.” Featuring interviews with numerous trial participants and observers, the film looks at the challenges of achieving fairness in circumstances where the world’s attention is focused on the courtroom.
The Chattanooga public will have its first chance to view the film on Thursday, July 11th at Loose Cannon Studios. The documentary is screening as part of the Chattanooga Arts and Education Council’s “Back Row Film Series.”
The featured Hoffa trial began in January of 1964, just days after the Teamsters union head had secured the first ever National Master Freight Agreement. He would go on to be convicted of jury tampering, sentenced to 15 years in prison and, most importantly, suffer through a trajectory that lessened his hold on the Teamsters (his sentence was commuted in 1971 by President Nixon).
Since Balancing the Scales was commissioned by lawyers, it’s not exactly your typical documentary. Director Barry Cammon comes from Advanced Video Solutions, a two-year-old video production company based in Lookout Mountain, TN.
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