The Witness

Catherine "Kitty" Genovese was stabbed to death on a street in Queens, New York, in 1964, and 38 witnesses, it was claimed, did nothing. More than 50 years later, her brother uncovers a lie that transformed his life, condemned a city, and defined an era.

The murder of Kitty Genovese transfixed New York and the world; it came to symbolize the apathy and indifference of urban life, and for many, a great social breakdown. Now, The Witness, a new film by James Solomon, follows Kitty's brother Bill Genovese about his sister's life and tracks down the neighbors who, according to the press, did nothing as the terror-filled screams of rape and murder took place outside their windows.

A half-century after the crime, spurred by the recent death of Kitty's murderer Winston Moseley, the film also re-examines the journalistic telling of the story, its distortions, and how certain narratives "go viral" by capturing the anxieties of their times.

Join New America for a screening of The Witness followed by a conversation that explores the case that motivated the study of "The Bystander Effect," led to the creation of 911 emergency call lines, and held the public imagination to become an American obsession.

Introduction:
Beth Dembitzer
Curator, Social Cinema@New America
@bethdembitzer

Panelists:
James Solomon
Director and Producer, The Witness
@TheWitnessFilm

William Genovese
Brother of Kitty Genovese

Michael Daly
Correspondent, The Daily Beast
Author, Under Ground; The Book of Mychal; and Topsy
@MichaelDalynyc 

Brooke Gladstone
Co-host and Editor, On the Media, WNYC
@OTMBrooke