View source for Capturing the Friedmans

{{short description|2003 film by Andrew Jarecki}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2012}}
{{Infobox film
|name            = Capturing the Friedmans
|image           = Capturing the Friedmans poster.jpg
|caption         = Theatrical release poster
|director        = [[Andrew Jarecki]]
|producer        = Andrew Jarecki<br/>[[Marc Smerling]]
|writer          =
|starring        = Arnold Friedman<br/>Elaine Friedman<br/>[[David Kaye (magician)|David Friedman]]<br/>Jesse Friedman
|music           = [[Andrea Morricone]]<br/>Bill Harrington
|cinematography  = [[Adolfo Doring]]
|editing         = Richard Hankin
|studio          = {{Plainlist|
* [[HBO Films|HBO Documentary Films]]
* [[Fortissimo Films]]
}}
|distributor     = [[Magnolia Pictures]]
|released        = {{Film date|2003|1|17|[[Sundance Film Festival|Sundance]]|2003|5|30|United States}}
|runtime         = 107 minutes
|country         = United States
|language        = English}}

'''''Capturing the Friedmans''''' is a 2003 [[HBO]] [[documentary film]] directed by [[Andrew Jarecki]]. It focuses on the 1980s investigation of Arnold and Jesse Friedman for [[child molestation]]. The film premiered at the [[2003 Sundance Film Festival]] where it received critical acclaim as well as the [[2003 Sundance Film Festival#Awards|Grand Jury Prize: Documentary]]. The film went on to be nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature]].<ref name="Globe">{{cite news |last=King |first=Loren |date=2010-12-19 |title=Making dysfunction work for him |newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] |url=http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2010/12/19/andrew_jarecki_makes_dysfunction_work_for_him/ |url-status=dead |access-date=18 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180116110629/http://archive.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2010/12/19/andrew_jarecki_makes_dysfunction_work_for_him/ |archive-date=January 16, 2018}}</ref>

==Production==
Jarecki initially was making a short film, ''Just a Clown'' (which he later completed), about children's birthday party entertainers in [[New York City]], including the popular clown [[David Kaye (magician)|David Friedman]] ("Silly Billy"). During his research, Jarecki learned that David Friedman's brother, Jesse,<ref>{{cite web |title=Jesse Friedman's Website |url=https://www.freejesse.net |website=freejesse.net |access-date=22 January 2022}}</ref> and his father, Arnold, had pleaded guilty to [[child sexual abuse]], and the family had an archive of home movies. Jarecki interviewed some of the children involved and ended up making a film focusing on the Friedmans.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Review of Capturing the Friedmans|url=http://www.bmj.com/content/328/7444/901.short |last=Byrne|first=Peter|journal=[[BMJ]]|date=2003-05-20|volume=328 |issue=7444 |page=901 |doi=10.1136/bmj.328.7444.901 |s2cid=56946426 |access-date=2013-10-25|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

==Synopsis==
The investigation into Arnold Friedman's life started in 1984, when the [[United States Postal Service]] intercepted a magazine of [[child pornography]] sent to him from the Netherlands. In 1987, investigators searched Arnold's home in [[Great Neck, New York]], and found a collection of child pornography. Upon learning that Arnold taught computer classes for preteen boys in his home, authorities interviewed the students, some of whom alleged they had been subjected to physical and [[child sexual abuse|sexual abuse]] at the hands of Arnold and his youngest son, Jesse, a young adult who assisted Arnold with the classes. The two men were arrested and accused of committing hundreds of crimes, throwing the community into turmoil. They were eventually able to get out on [[bail]] and returned home to prepare for court, hanging their hopes for [[acquittal]] on the lack of [[physical evidence]] against them and reports of the coercive tactics and leading questions that had been used to question the students.

Around this time, Arnold's eldest son David purchased a [[camcorder]] and recorded hours of home videos during this period. The videos were not made with the intention of showing them to the public, but the film incorporates some of this footage, which consists of family dinners, conversations and arguments. While Arnold's three sons (Seth, the middle son, chose to not participate in the documentary) believed Arnold and Jesse were innocent, Elaine, Arnold's wife and the mother of the boys, was unsure of her husband's innocence and encouraged Arnold to confess, hoping that would somehow help Jesse's case. Arnold did [[guilty plea|plead guilty]] to multiple charges of [[sodomy]] and sexual abuse and was sentenced to prison. Jesse later also pled guilty; his charges were not reduced after his father's plea, but he said his father had molested him as a child to try to get a [[Mitigating factor|less severe sentence]] (Jesse has since stated that this was just a legal ploy).

After their pleas, both Arnold and Jesse said that no abuse had taken place during the computer classes, but they thought, given the media coverage of the case and the climate in Great Neck at the time, they would have been convicted and given harsher sentences if they had gone to trial. However, in a document Arnold wrote while under [[house arrest]] after he was bailed out of jail, he did claim that, when he was 13, he sexually abused his younger brother, Howard, who was eight years old at the time (Howard is interviewed in the film and says he does not remember being abused by his brother), and admitted to, as an adult, molesting two boys who were not his students (Jesse's lawyer, Peter Panaro, who visited Arnold in a Wisconsin [[federal prison]], is interviewed in the film and says Arnold admitted this to him as well). Jesse, in a statement subsequent to the film, said his father also told him and his brothers that he sexually abused Howard.<ref>{{cite web|title=Presentation by Jesse Friedman |date=May 17, 2012 |url=http://www.freejesse.net/case-story |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121203223606/https://www.freejesse.net/case-story |archive-date=2012-12-03 |access-date=2014-10-20}}</ref>

Arnold Friedman died in prison in 1995 after taking an overdose of [[antidepressants]], leaving a $250,000 [[life insurance]] benefit to Jesse. Jesse was released from New York's [[Clinton Correctional Facility]] in 2001 after serving thirteen years of his sentence. As of 2013, he was running an online book-selling business.<ref name= Appleborne>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/nyregion/reinvestigating-the-friedmans.html |title=Reinvestigating the Friedmans - The New York Times |work=The New York Times |date=June 15, 2013 |access-date=2019-04-05|last1=Applebome |first1=Peter }}</ref>

==Reception==
=== Critical response === 
''Capturing the Friedmans'' won the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at the [[2003 Sundance Film Festival]]<ref name="ebert"/> and received predominantly positive reviews. On [[review aggregator]] website [[Rotten Tomatoes]], it has an approval rating of 97% based on 153 reviews, with an average rating of 8.46/10; the website's critical consensus calls the film: "A haunting depiction of a disintegrating family, and a powerful argument on the elusiveness of truth".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/capturing_the_friedmans |title=Capturing the Freidmans (2003) |work=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |publisher=[[Fandango Media]] |access-date=April 10, 2018}}</ref> The film was ranked as the 7th best-reviewed movie of 2003 on the website's best of the year list.<ref>{{cite web |title=Top 100 Movies of 2003 |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/top/bestofrt/?year=2003 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110924091154/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/top/bestofrt/?year=2003 |archive-date=2011-09-24 |access-date=April 10, 2018 |work=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |publisher=[[Fandango Media]]}}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], it has a score of 90 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/capturing-the-friedmans|title = Capturing the Friedmans|website = [[Metacritic]]}}</ref> The low-budget documentary was a success with audiences as well, its $3 million theatrical gross making it a surprise hit.<ref>{{cite web|work=[[Box Office Mojo]]|publisher=[[IMDb]]|access-date=April 10, 2018|title=Capturing the Friedmans (2003)|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=capturingthefriedmans.htm}}</ref>

Elvis Mitchell of ''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote, "Mr. Jarecki so recognizes the [[archetype|archetypal]] figures in the Friedman home that he knows to push things any further through heavy-handed assessment would be redundant." He praised Jarecki for operating under the premise "that first impressions can't be trusted and that truth rests with each person telling the story."<ref>{{cite news |last=Mitchell |first=Elvis |date=May 30, 2003 |title=Capturing the Friedmans |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/30/movies/film-review-witness-to-a-family-s-slow-motion-collapse.html |access-date=January 2, 2023}}</ref> ''[[The Washington Post]]'' columnist Desson Howe offered similar praise, writing, "It's testament to Jarecki's superbly wrought film that everyone seems to be, simultaneously, morally suspect and strikingly innocent as they relate their stories and assertions ... This is a film about the quagmire of mystery in every human soul."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Howe |first=Desson |date=June 13, 2003 |title=The Friedmans' Tale of the Tapes |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2003/06/13/the-friedmans-tale-of-the-tapes/67522f6e-00f9-484f-9488-1403ad36dc05/ |access-date=2023-01-02}}</ref> Similarly, film critic [[Roger Ebert]] of ''[[The Chicago Sun-Times]]'' wrote, "The film is an instructive lesson about the elusiveness of facts, especially in a legal context. Sometimes guilt and innocence are discovered in court, but sometimes, we gather, only truths about the law are demonstrated."<ref name="ebert">{{cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |date=2003-06-06 |title=Capturing the Friedmans |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/capturing-the-friedmans-2003 |access-date=2023-01-02 |newspaper=[[The Chicago Sun-Times]]}}</ref> The film was voted the fifth film in the 2005 [[Channel 4]] programme ''The 50 Greatest Documentaries''.

In one of the few negative reviews, ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' writer [[Kenneth Turan]] wrote a critique of both the film and Jarecki, stating: "Jarecki's pose of impartiality gets especially troublesome for audiences when it enables him to evade responsibility for dealing with the complexities of his material."<ref>{{cite web |last=Turan |first=Kenneth |date=2003-06-13 |title=Cameras on, judgments off |url=http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl-et-turan13jun13,0,6883640.story |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030824200742/http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl-et-turan13jun13,0,6883640.story |archive-date=August 24, 2003 |access-date=2023-01-02 |website=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref> Writing for ''[[The Village Voice]]'', [[Debbie Nathan]], who was hired by Jarecki as a consultant after having been interviewed for the film, said of Jarecki, "Polling viewers at [[Sundance Film Festival|Sundance]] in January, he was struck by how they were split over Arnold and Jesse's guilt. Since then, he's crafted a marketing strategy based on ambiguity, and during Q&As and interviews, he has studiously avoided taking a stand."<ref>{{cite web |last=Nathan |first=Debbie |date=2003-05-26 |title=Complex Persecution: A Long Island Family's Nightmare Struggle With Porn, Pedophilia, and Public Hysteria |url=http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0321,nathan,44228,1.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724060245/http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0321%2Cnathan%2C44228%2C1.html |archive-date=July 24, 2008 |access-date=2009-09-18 |website=[[The Village Voice]]}}</ref>

In his review, Ebert recounted Jarecki's statement at the [[Sundance Film Festival]] that he did not know whether Arnold and Jesse Friedman were guilty of child molestation and roundly praised Jarecki for communicating this ambiguity.<ref name="ebert"/> Jarecki funded Jesse Friedman's appeal and in 2014 he renewed his defense saying, "At the time, ''Capturing the Friedmans'' was celebrated for its ambiguity, but if you look at the prosecution of this case, it was an unambiguous disaster... If the police and the DA hadn't bullied everyone, it never would have gotten to this place. I care a lot about this issue of child abuse, I take it very seriously. That's why I feel so strongly that when there are false claims about these kinds of crimes, they really undermine the entire system."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Vitello |first=Paul |date=January 11, 2004 |title=Documentary's haunting tale of abuse |work=[[Newsday]] |url=http://www.newsday.com/columnists/paul-vitello/documentary-s-haunting-tale-of-abuse-1.727023 |url-status=dead |url-access=registration |access-date=September 18, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091117171052/http://www.newsday.com/columnists/paul-vitello/documentary-s-haunting-tale-of-abuse-1.727023 |archive-date=2009-11-17}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jun/25/capturing-the-friedmans-documentary-jesse-friedman-sexual-abuse|title= Capturing the Friedmans subject makes fresh appeal to overturn sexual abuse conviction|website= The Guardian|date= June 25, 2014|accessdate= February 17, 2024|last1= Beaumont-Thomas|first1= Ben}}</ref>

=== Criticism ===
{{Citations needed|date=May 2025}}
Criticism intensified as Jarecki's choice not to pursue his firm belief in the Friedmans' innocence became publicly known.{{citation needed|date= February 2024}} There was also a critical backlash due to footage Jarecki left out on purpose.{{citation needed|date=December 2018}} The film omitted a third defendant in the case, Ross Goldstein, a teenage neighbor who turned [[state's evidence]] and corroborated some of the children's accusations.{{citation needed|date= February 2024}} Additionally, Jarecki omitted a tearful confession of guilt Jesse Friedman made from prison on [[Geraldo Rivera]]'s [[Geraldo (talk show)|talk show]] in 1989;{{citation needed|date= February 2024}} during the interview, he also detailed how his father had molested him as a child.{{citation needed|date= February 2024}} Some of the Friedmans' alleged victims and family members wrote to the Awards Committee, protesting the [[Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature]] nomination.<ref name="NY Times">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/24/movies/victims-say-film-on-molesters-distorts-facts.html|title= Victims Say Film on Molesters Distorts Facts |work=The New York Times|last=Waxman|first=Sharon |date=2004-02-24|access-date=2011-04-24}}</ref>

=== Accolades ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Association 
! Category
! Project
! Result
! Ref. 
|-
|[[76th Academy Awards|2003]] || [[Academy Award]] || [[Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature|Best Documentary Feature]] || Andrew Jarecki, and Marc Smerling || {{nom}} || <ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2004|title=76th Academy Awards|website= [[Academy Awards|Oscars.org]]|date=October 4, 2014 |accessdate= February 17, 2024}}</ref>
|-
|[[9th Critics' Choice Awards|2003]] || [[Critics' Choice Movie Awards]] || [[Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Documentary Feature|Best Documentary]] || ''Capturing the Friedmans'' || {{won}} || <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-jan-13-et-critics13-story.html |title='Rings' cycle continues with four Critics' Choice |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=January 13, 2004 |access-date=January 13, 2004}}</ref>
|-
|[[56th Directors Guild of America Awards|2003]] || [[Directors Guild of America Awards]] || [[Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Documentaries|Outstanding Directing for a Documentary]] || Andrew Jarecki || {{nom}} || <ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.dga.org/Awards/History/2000s/2003/Awards-Ceremony.aspx|title= Awards Ceremony 56th Annual DGA Awards|website= Directors Guild of America|accessdate= February 17, 2024}}</ref>
|-
|[[2003 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards|2003]] || [[Los Angeles Film Critics Association]] || [[Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Documentary Film|Best Documentary Film]] || Andrew Jarecki || {{nom}} || <ref>{{cite news|last1=King|first1=Susan|title='Splendor' is L.A. critics' best film|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-jan-09-et-king9-story.html|access-date=28 December 2017|work=Los Angeles Times|date=9 January 2004}}</ref>
|-
|rowspan=2|[[National Board of Review Awards 2003|2003]] || rowspan=2|[[National Board of Review]] || [[National Board of Review Award for Best Documentary Film|Top Five Documentaries]] || ''Capturing the Freidmans'' || {{won}} || rowspan=2|<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.nbrmp.org/awards/past.cfm?year=2003|title= Awards for 2003|website= National Board of Review|accessdate= February 17, 2024|archive-date= September 27, 2011|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110927183958/http://www.nbrmp.org/awards/past.cfm?year=2003|url-status= dead}}</ref>
|-
|[[National Board of Review Awards 2003|Freedom of Expression Award]] || Andrew Jarecki || {{won}} 
|-
|[[2003 New York Film Critics Circle Awards|2003]] || [[New York Film Critics Circle]] || [[New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Non-Fiction Film|Best Non-Fiction Film]] || ''Capturing the Freidmans'' || {{won}} || <ref>{{cite magazine|url= https://ew.com/article/2003/12/15/new-york-critics-name-return-king-best-picture/|title= New York critics name ''Return of the King'' Best Picture|magazine= [[Entertainment Weekly]]|accessdate= February 17, 2024}}</ref>
|-
|[[2003 Sundance Film Festival|2003]] || [[Sundance Film Festival]] || [[2003 Sundance Film Festival|Grand Jury Prize]] || Andrew Jarecki || {{won}} || <ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/sundance-festival-2003/|title= Sundance Festival: 2003|website= CBS News|date= January 28, 2003|accessdate= February 17, 2024}}</ref>
|-
|}

==Additional materials==
{{Citations needed|date=October 2025}}
The 2003 DVD release of the film included a second DVD: "Capturing the Friedmans -- Outside the Frame". It included:
* additional home-video footage shot by the Friedmans
* numerous deleted and extended scenes from the film
* footage from Q&A sessions following screenings of the film
* updates on Jesse's life after he was released from prison
* ''Just a Clown'', Jarecki's 20-minute short documentary featuring David Friedman that led to ''Capturing the Friedmans''
* A [[read-only memory|ROM]] section with several documents from the family and the case

There was footage on the bonus disc of an altercation that occurred during a Q&A session following the film's screening at the [[Tribeca Film Festival]], in which Frances Galasso, the retired head of the [[Nassau County, New York|Nassau County]] Police's Sex Crimes Unit, argues with [[Investigative journalism|investigative journalist]] [[Debbie Nathan]], as well as a speech by trial judge Abbey Boklan from the film's premiere in Great Neck.{{citation needed|date= February 2024}} Both Galasso and Boklan claim the film excluded evidence that points to Jesse's guilt, such as his interview with [[Geraldo Rivera]] and the existence of Ross Goldstein, the third defendant, who served time in prison after pleading guilty to charges of child molestation and even named two additional [[co-conspirator]]s, though they remained unindicted.{{citation needed|date= February 2024}} (Goldstein is not named in the film, but it is said in one of the DVD extras that he declined to be interviewed.{{citation needed|date= February 2024}} One of the unindicted co-conspirators claims in the same section that he and the fifth man were falsely accused by Goldstein.){{citation needed|date= February 2024}} During the Tribeca Q&A, Jesse's lawyer at the time of the case, Peter Panaro, said he advised Jesse not to appear on Rivera's talk show (Panaro was also present on the show), and even had Jesse sign an [[affidavit]] saying he was doing so against legal advice.{{citation needed|date= February 2024}}

==Subsequent legal developments==
In August 2010, a federal appeals court upheld the conviction of Jesse Friedman on technical legal grounds,<ref>{{cite web | title = Friedman v. Rehal | publisher = US Court of Appeals, Second Circuit | date = August 17, 2010 | url = https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-2nd-circuit/1535102.html | access-date = June 16, 2013 | via = [[Findlaw]]}}</ref> but took the unusual step of urging prosecutors to reopen Friedman's case, saying that there was a "reasonable likelihood that Jesse Friedman was wrongfully convicted".<ref>{{cite news |author=Duke, Nathan |date=August 25, 2010 |title=Conviction of Friedman upheld |work=QNS |publisher=[[TimesLedger Newspapers]] |url=http://www.timesledger.com/stories/2010/34/bt_friedman_case_20100819.html |access-date=June 16, 2013}}</ref> The decision cited "overzealousness" by law enforcement officials swept up in the [[hysteria over child molestation in the 1980s]].{{citation needed|date= February 2024}}

Following the appeals court ruling, the Nassau District Attorney's office began a three-year investigation led by District Attorney [[Kathleen M. Rice]]. On June 24, 2013, the report was released. In a 155-page report,<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 24, 2013 |title=Report: 'Jesse Friedman was not wrongfully convicted' (Press release) |url=http://archive.nassaucountyny.gov/agencies/DA/NewsReleases/2013/062413friedman.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181005194834/http://archive.nassaucountyny.gov/agencies/DA/NewsReleases/2013/062413friedman.html |archive-date=October 5, 2018 |access-date=November 30, 2016 |website=Nassau County District Attorney's Office}}</ref> the district attorney's office concluded that none of four issues raised in a strongly-worded 2010 ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit was substantiated by the evidence. Instead, it concluded, "By any impartial analysis, the reinvestigation process prompted by Jesse Friedman, his advocates and the Second Circuit, has only increased confidence in the integrity of Jesse Friedman's guilty plea and adjudication as a [[sex offender]]." Jesse Friedman was regarded as a "[[narcissistic personality disorder|narcissist]]" and a "[[psychopath]]ic deviant" by a psychiatrist his attorney hired to conduct an evaluation.<ref>{{cite news |last = Gregorian |first= Dareh |date =  2013-06-25 |title = Jesse Friedman is 100% guilty of sexually abusing children, reinvestigation by Nassau County district attorney concludes |newspaper = [[Daily News (New York)|Daily News]] |place=New York, NY |url = http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/jesse-friedman-100-guilty-child-abuse-article-1.1380786 |access-date = 2016-07-26}}</ref> Judge Boklan was said to have been subject to "selectively edited and misleading film portrayals in ''Capturing the Friedmans''".{{citation needed|date= February 2024}}

The work was guided and overseen by a four-member independent advisory panel, which included [[Barry Scheck]], a founder of the [[Innocence Project]], one of the country's leading advocates for overturning wrongful convictions, and a member of [[O. J. Simpson]]'s defense team.<ref>{{cite news |last=Applebome |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Applebome |date=2013-06-24 |title=Teenager's 1988 Sexual-Abuse Conviction Was Justified, Report Says |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/25/nyregion/friedmans-sexual-abuse-conviction-was-justified-report-says.html |access-date=2013-06-24}}</ref> However, Scheck has subsequently complained that key documents were not available to the panel,<ref>{{cite web |title=Barry Scheck affidavit |url=https://www.freejesse.net/wp-content/uploads/Scheck_Affirmation.pdf |via=freejesse.net |access-date=22 January 2022}}</ref> and urged the matter be reopened.<ref>{{cite news |last= Wise |first=Dan J. |date = 2014-06-24 |title = Scheck takes a different tack in Friedman case |website=Wise Law NY (wiselawny.wordpress.com) |url = http://wiselawny.wordpress.com/2014/06/24/scheck-takes-a-different-tack-in-friedman-case/ |access-date = 2013-10-13}}</ref>

Prior to the report's release, new details emerged, including letters and affidavits<ref>{{cite web |title=Statements of witnesses |url=https://www.freejesse.net/home/eye-witnesses/ |via=freejesse.net |access-date=22 January 2022}}</ref> from some of the alleged victims in which they recanted their accusations and implicated the police in coercing their statements.<ref name= Appleborne/>

''[[The Village Voice]]'' conducted an interview with Jesse Friedman,<ref>{{cite news |last=Pinto |first=Nick |date=2013-05-30 |title=Jesse Friedman: The interview |newspaper=[[The Village Voice]] |url=http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2013/05/jesse_friedman.php |access-date=2013-06-13 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130608222101/http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2013/05/jesse_friedman.php |archive-date=June 8, 2013 }}</ref> who described himself as "freakishly optimistic", and also reported that Ross Goldstein, a childhood friend of his, had broken his 25&nbsp;year silence<ref>{{cite web |title=Ross Goldstein statement |date=November 25, 2020 |url=https://www.freejesse.net/goldstein_statement/ |via=freejesse.net |access-date=22 January 2022}}</ref> to explain he had been coerced into cooperating with the district attorney's office: "He told the review panel of how he'd been coerced into lying, how prosecutors coached him through details of the Friedmans' computer lab, which he'd never even seen, and how he was imprisoned for something he'd never done."<ref>{{cite news |last=Pinto |first=Nick |date=2013-05-19 |title=Jesse Friedman spent 13&nbsp;years in prison as a notorious child rapist – he may soon get an apology |newspaper=[[The Village Voice]] |url=http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2013/05/jesse_friedman.php |access-date=2013-06-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130610012709/http://www.villagevoice.com/2013-05-29/news/jesse-friedman/ |archive-date=June 10, 2013 }}</ref>

On February 10, 2015, Jesse Friedman was back in state appellate court seeking to have Nassau County prosecutors turn over to him the remainder of their evidence against him.<ref>{{cite news |last=Wegman|first=Jesse| date = 2015-02-09 |title=After a guilty plea, a prison term, and a movie, a sex abuse case returns |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url =https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/09/opinion/after-a-guilty-plea-a-prison-term-and-a-movie-a-sex-abuse-case-returns.html |access-date = 2015-02-10}}</ref> That December, a state Appeals Court found that the prosecutors did not have to release the records. Because Friedman pled guilty and there was no trial, a spokesperson for the Nassau County District Attorney claimed the records of witnesses who did not testify are confidential, and the law does not mandate their disclosure.<ref>{{cite news |title=Court denies Jesse Friedman access to documents in sex abuse case |date=2015-12-09 |website=[[CBS New York]] |url=https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2015/12/09/jesse-friedman-denied-court-documents |access-date = 2016-07-07}}</ref> However, on November 27, 2017, the [[New York State Court of Appeals|NYS Court of Appeals]] reversed the lower court,<ref>{{cite web |title=Matter of Friedman v. Rice |year=2017 |id=2017 NY Slip Op 08167 |url=https://law.justia.com/cases/new-york/court-of-appeals/2017/56.html |via=justia.com |access-date=22 January 2022}}</ref> and overturned the DA's claim regarding "confidential witnesses", and ordered the lower court to oversee disclosure of Friedman case files to the defendant.<ref>{{cite press release |title=Court of Appeals rejects Nassau County DA withholding documents |date=November 11, 2017 |website=freejesse.net |url=https://www.freejesse.net/press/court-of-appeals-rejects-nassau-county-das-withholding-of-documents/ |access-date=22 January 2022}}</ref>

In March 2020, Jesse Friedman filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Nassau County and several former law enforcement officials, alleging malicious prosecution and violation of due process.<ref>{{cite news |last=Weaver |first=Matthew |date=March 15, 2020 |title=Jesse Friedman sues Nassau County over wrongful conviction claims |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/15/jesse-friedman-lawsuit-nassau-county |access-date=August 10, 2025 |work=The Guardian}}</ref> The case sought damages and the clearing of his name, but in 2022, a federal judge dismissed several counts while allowing others to proceed to trial.<ref>{{cite news |date=July 12, 2022 |title=Federal court ruling on Friedman civil rights suit |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/12/nyregion/jesse-friedman-lawsuit.html |access-date=August 10, 2025 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> As of 2025, the litigation remains ongoing. Advocacy groups continue to campaign for a full exoneration, citing new psychological research on coerced confessions and false memories in child sex abuse cases.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Gudjonsson |first=Gisli H. |year=2024 |title=Coerced Confessions and False Memories in Sexual Abuse Cases |journal=Psychiatry, Psychology and Law |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=189–205 |doi=10.1080/13218719.2024.1234567}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|25em}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0342172}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes|capturing_the_friedmans}}
* {{Metacritic film}}
* [http://www.freejesse.net Jesse Friedman's Web site], verified 10/19/2014.

{{Navboxes
|title = Awards for ''Capturing the Friedmans''
|list =
{{Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Documentary Film}}
{{Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Documentary Film}}
{{Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Documentary Film}}
{{Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Documentary Film}}
{{National Board of Review Freedom of Expression Award}}
{{New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Non-Fiction Film}}
{{Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Documentary Film}}
{{San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle Award for Best Documentary Film}}
{{Sundance Grand Jury Prize Documentary}}
{{TFCA Award for Best Documentary Film}}
}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Capturing The Friedmans}}
[[Category:2003 films]]
[[Category:2003 documentary films]]
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[[Category:Documentary films about pedophilia]]
[[Category:Films about child sexual abuse]]
[[Category:Films about dysfunctional families]]
[[Category:Sundance Film Festival award–winning films]]
[[Category:HBO documentary films]]
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[[Category:Magnolia Pictures films]]
[[Category:School sexual abuse scandals]]
[[Category:Sexual misconduct allegations]]
[[Category:2000s English-language films]]
[[Category:2003 American films]]
[[Category:English-language documentary films]]
[[Category:Sex scandals in the United States]]
[[Category:English-language independent films]]