Jury of Her Peers - Indianola (4 showings)

"Jury of Her Peers" is an award-winning murder mystery with a comedic twist that highlights a true-crime case outside Medora, Iowa: the shocking – and officially unsolved – axe-murder of Iowa farmer John Hossack in 1900. The case exposed small-town rivalries and prejudices, as well as the feminine strength that has kept the incident in the public imagination for more than a century.
Starring Indianola native Cheyenne Goode, written/directed by William Rock, produced by Amy Nigg and shot by frequent 48-Hour Film Festival filmmaker John Hansen, "Jury of Her Peers" is the first feature-length film treatment of the Hossack case, though its roots in live theatre run deep.
The case was originally reported on by Davenport-born Susan Glaspell (1876-1948), then a young journalist and graduate of Drake University. Later, Glaspell would become the Pulitzer-Prize-winning “godmother of modern American drama,” penning the short play Trifles (1916), inspired by the Hossack case. "Trifles" is one of Glaspell’s best known works, is still often re-published and performed onstage, and has been adapted into an Oscar-nominated short film, as well as television productions.