Go to content
At the age of 17, the Dutch girl Gea Knol started to exchange letters with Bryan Running, who was on death row in Florida. In 1980 the marine raped and murdered a girl aged six. Now, seventeen years after their first letter, the contact has developed into an intimate relationship and Gea has even published their exchange of letters. The proceeds are spent on a Dutch lawyer in New Orleans. Beyond Reason shows how Gea Knol and the Dutch lawyer together try to have the death sentence commuted to life imprisonment in the United States. She visits his family, makes friends with a group opposed to the death penalty and reports back on seeing Jennings. Film-maker Marijke Jongbloed portrays the committed woman and participates in her struggle by approaching the mother of the murdered girl, a risky endeavour, with a request to save Jennings from death.

Credits

Co-producer
Production company
Scarabeefilms
TV company
NCRV TV
Distributor NL
ABC/Cinemien

Title: Beyond Reason: A Friend on Deathrow
Year: 2000
Duration : 1 hour, 40 minutes
Category: Long Documentary
Edition: NFF 2000

NFF Archive

You are now in the NFF Archive. The archive contains contains information on film, TV and interactive productions that were screened at past festival editions. The NFF does not dispose of this material. For this, please contact the producer, distributor or broadcaster. Sometimes, older films can also be found at the Eye Film Museum or the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision.