SPRING LAKE — A Grand Rapids filmmaker had his documentary film accepted into the 2025 Central Michigan International Film Festival in Mount Pleasant.

"Wronged: The Maurice Carter Story" was accepted by the film festival last week, the Spring Lake-based Humanity for Prisoners advocacy group announced Monday.

Directed by award-winning producer Nate Roels the film chronicles the harrowing journey of Maurice Carter, a man whose life was forever altered by a wrongful conviction. 

In 1976, in Benton Harbor, Michigan, Carter, then 31, was wrongfully convicted of shooting an off-duty police officer. He spent almost 29 years in Michigan prisons before his life sentence was commuted in 2004 due to his health, but his name was never cleared.

Carter's story inspired Spring Lake resident Doug Tjapkes to found Humanity for Prisoners in 2001; the organization is dedicated to supporting prisoners and their families in navigating the challenges of incarceration and represents over 11,000 Michigan inmates.

HFP Executive Director Mark Hartman called the film "powerful." The group commissioned Roels to produce the Maurice Carter story.

The CMIFF is highly competitive, with hundreds of independent film entries from around the world each year. 

— Submitted by Doug Tjapkes. Click here to submit an article.