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GUEST: Peter Miller, director and co-producer of Sacco and Vanzetti

Eighty years ago this year, two Italian immigrant anarchists, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, were executed following one of the most controversial court cases in American history. Charged with the robbery and murders of two men in South Braintree, Massachusetts, many historians agree that Sacco and Vanzetti, did not receive a fair trial and were persecuted for their political beliefs. The case of Sacco and Vanzetti drew worldwide international protests and inspired novelists, poets, and singers to their cause. This week the first major documentary about their story will debut in LA. Distributed by First Run Features, the documentary “Sacco and Vanzetti,” chronicles the lives of the two persecuted immigrants after they arrived in the US from Italy and began politically organizing. First time director Peter Miller tells the history of Sacco and Vanzetti through their prison writings as well as impassioned commentary by the likes of Howard Zinn and Studs Terkel. Historian Eric Foner praised Miller’s documentary as a “timely reminder of the fragility of our liberties in times of crisis.”

Sacco and Vanzetti opens this Friday at the Laemmle Music Hall in Beverly Hills and the Laemmle Playhouse 7 in Pasadena.

For more information, visit www.saccoandvanzettifilm.com.