by Marla Lewin

                   photo from "Michael Jackson: The Untold Story of Neverland"

Just days after Dr. Conrad Murray surrendered to the Superior court in Los Angeles, where he was arraigned on one count of felony involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson there is  a new film being screened at  the 2010 Santa Barbara International Film Festival. The world premiere of the feature documentary “Michael Jackson: The Untold Story of Neverland”  by Larry Nimmer will presented  on Wednesday, Feb. 10 at 9:30 pm at the Victory Hall theatre in Santa Barbara.

This behind the scenes view of Michael Jackson, describes a young lonely man who loved children and like the fictional characters in Neverland did not wish to grow up.  He truly believed in love and helping others. He was naive, childlike and trusting of the people he surrounded himself with. Repeatedly he paid the price for those decisions.

Nimmer a Santa Barbara resident, worked as a documentary producer for the Jackson defense team during the 2005 trial. His documentary was produced with the cooperation of Jackson attorney Tom Mesereau. The film features  the Sheriff’s raid on Neverland Ranch, unseen trial footage of his accusers, and behind the scenes moments with Jackson and his family.

Nimmer expects based on the facts he shows in his documentary, and looking back at the media hysteria that took place at the time viewers will finally be able to make up their own minds about Jackson's guilt or innocence. There has been much made recently about how these events and their aftermath weighed heavily on Jackson and led to his premature death.

A second screening will take place on Friday, Feb. 12 at 10:45am at the Metro IV theatre. Nimmer will answer questions at both screenings.

Video clips from the documentary can be seen on Nimmer’s web site at www.nimmer.net.

For those not in the Santa Barbara area the film is already available on Amazon.