Documentary TARGET OF OPPORTUNITY to Be Featured at Richmond International Film Festival

Near Genius Films (URL), the production company behind the documentary Target of Opportunity, is proud to announce that the film has been accepted as an official selection at the upcoming Richmond International Film Festival (RIFF). The film will be screened at the festival on Friday, February 27, 2015, at the VIRGINIA Historical Society, at 428 N. Boulevard Richmond, VA.

Target of Opportunity covers the trial of Dustin Turner, a Navy SEAL trainee three weeks away from receiving the coveted SEAL trident, accused of the 1995 murder of Jennifer Evans. Target of Opportunity investigates whether political and media pressure may have resulted in a wrongful conviction in that high-profile case.

Target of Opportunity also explores the dark side of SEAL training, which creates traits that are highly prized on the battlefield but are dangerous in civilian life.

"Target of Opportunity is an important counterweight to movies like Clint Eastwood's biographical film American Sniper," said Target of Opportunity Co-producer and Director JD Leete. "Both films explore how SEALs are changed by the unique training and lifestyle of special operators, heightening their desire to protect fellow soldiers and dulling their sensitivity to violence. Those two traits are often held up as what makes SEALs heroes but, as Target of Opportunity shows, they can create victims as well."

Leete is a retired Special Warfare operator with elite forces in the U.S. Navy. Leete spent 12 of his 21-year Naval career as a tactical communicator and Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewman, or SWCC, whose primary mission was to deliver SEALs to and from the target. His knowledge of SEAL culture, and the sensationalist nature of the trial when it was taking place, are what first attracted Leete to the 1995 Dustin Turner murder trial case.

"I was trained by the best operators in the world to complete the mission, never quit and leave no one behind," said Leete. "Whenever the thought of Dustin Turner sitting in prison comes to me, knowing what I know about the EVIDENCE and his role in the crime, I imagine a young SEAL left sitting on the edge of the jungle watching his brothers speed off without him. It haunts me."

What began as an exploration of the EVIDENCE turned into a pile of unanswered questions, and an exhaustive investigation into the judicial system of Virginia. Even though another SEAL trainee has confessed to the murder and to framing Turner Turner's "swim buddy" in his Basic Underwater Demolitions or "BUDS" training the Commonwealth of VIRGINIA refuses to release Turner. Target of Opportunity unfolds the EVIDENCE and probes why the VIRGINIA Court of Appeals and the VIRGINIA Supreme Court will not exonerate Turner.

"Target of Opportunity allowed JD to combine his love of documentary filmmaking with his PASSION to for justice," said Target of Opportunity Co-producer Matt Salzberg. "Leete has made a promise that he won't leave Dustin Turner behind until justice is served. His quest is to bring all the facts to light, and let the audience decide on Turner's fate."

Leete added "If the public determines that Turner should be incarcerated for the rest of his life for his actual role in the crime, so be it but they should know all the facts. For some reason, the Commonwealth of VIRGINIA has done their best to cloud and confuse their own citizens about what actually happened that fateful night."

ABOUT NEAR GENIUS FILMS:

Near Genius Films is a film production company that produces documentary films, focusing primarily on military stories.

ABOUT TARGET OF OPPORTUNITY:

In 1995, Dustin Turner and his best friend Billy Joe Brown were in the final weeks of 15 months of training to become U.S. Navy SEALs. On the night of June 18, they went to a nightclub to celebrate and met a young woman named Jennifer Evans. They were the last two people to see her alive. Through eyewitness reports, EVIDENCE and testimony, the truth begins to emerge, or does it? First time filmmaker and former US Navy Chief JD Leete turns his attention to this front page news and comes up with startling discrepancies, judicial oversights and shocking consequences which have changed these two young men's lives forever.

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SOURCE Near Genius Films