Give Up Tomorrow

In 1997, 19-year-old culinary student Paco Larrañaga was arrested for the kidnap, rape, and murder of two sisters on the provincial island of Cebu in the Philippines. Despite demonstrable evidence of his innocence, including 40 eye-witnesses and photographs placing him hundreds of miles from the scene, Paco's legal ordeal was only just beginning. Dubbed the Philippines' "trial of the century," Paco's ordeal became a galvanizing focal point in a far-reaching exposé of gross miscarriage of justice at the highest levels.  Following the case and its aftermath for more than a decade, the filmmakers trace Paco’s story from the ethnic and class tensions at its roots, through a distracting thread of tabloid sensationalism, and ultimately to appeals and interventions from foreign governments and NGOs as the injustice of Paco’s situation becomes ever more stark and undeniable. At once a murder mystery, a courtroom drama, and a stunning indictment of national corruption, «Give Up Tomorrow» is an engrossing, enraging true crime chronicle.

Awards: Audience Awards at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival and the 2011 Sheffield Doc/Fest.