October 11, 2007

Public showing of alum's documentary to be at Purdue

"The Killer Within," which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, is co-produced by Purdue alumnus Leonard Cox. The movie will be shown at 8 p.m. in Matthew Hall, Room 210. Cox, who earned a bachelor's degree in communication in 1979 and a master's degree in organizational communication in 1996, will introduce the film and answer audience questions after its showing.

The event, which is free and open to the public, is part of October's Experience Liberal Arts.

The film is about Bob Bechtel, a current professor at the University of Arizona who studies environmental psychology, confessing to his family, friends and colleagues that he murdered a college classmate 50 years earlier. On Jan. 11, 1955, Bechtel shot and killed a student at Pennsylvania's Swarthmore College and plotted to kill all the students in his residence hall because he had been bullied. Bechtel, at the age of 22, was found not competent to stand trial and sent to a state hospital for the criminally insane. More than four years later he was released.

"Until now, the secret of his past has been kept from the world," said Cox, who is co-owner of the independent documentary film production company River Films, Inc. "'The Killer Within' explores the powerful story and its relevance to school shootings today. The film follows the family as they revisit the dorm, the school and psychiatric correctional facility where Bob lived."

The film also shows personal testimonials from Bechtel, as well as his two daughters, other family members, and his students and colleagues. Experts on school violence and criminal behavior also are interviewed.

Cox co-produced the film with Sandra M. Itkoff. Macky Alston is the director, Christopher White is the co-director and editor, and Dyanna Taylor is the director of photography. The original score was composed by Roger Neill and recorded by the Kronos Quartet. The score also includes new music recorded especially for the film by Natalie Merchant.

"The Killer Within" is Cox's third feature-length documentary film. His first, "Family Name," premiered at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Freedom of Expression Award. His second film, "Questioning Faith: Confessions of a Seminarian," aired nationally on HBO-2 and its affiliate channel Cinemax Reel Life. CNN ranked the film as one of the top 10 films of 2002.

Cox also is the executive director of communications at Columbia University. He is a former partner with the Michael Cohen Group, LLC, a media and organization communications consulting firm, and served as a communications consultant to a variety of Fortune 500 companies.

Cox's clients included WGBH (PBS Boston), Sesame Workshop, Disney/ABC Family Channel, CBS and Lifetime Television. Cox was actively involved in the production of a series of public service announcements for Lifetime TV aimed at stopping violence against women.

Earlier in his career, Cox was director of corporate communication at NBC. In this capacity, he served as a producer for the network's coverage of the Democratic and Republican national conventions and as a producer at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.

He is the recipient of the 2004 College of Liberal Arts Distinguished Alumni Award, a 2005 Telly Award winner and 1993 Emmy nominee.

Experience Liberal Arts month will feature a variety of lectures, films, performances, events and exhibits that reflect the college's ongoing coursework and research in the arts, humanities, social and behavioral sciences. Information about the upcoming events is available online at https://www.cla.purdue.edu/experience or by calling (765) 494-7884 to request a program guide.

Writer: Amy Patterson Neubert, (765) 494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu

Source: Chris Sharp, director of alumni relations and special events in the College of Liberal Arts, (765) 494-7884, ctsharp@purdue.edu 

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

Note to Journalists: A publication-quality image of the movie poster is available at https://www.purdue.edu/uns/images/+2007/
KillerWithinPoster.jpg and https://www.purdue.edu/uns/images/+2007/cox-leonard07.jpg. Journalists interested in interviewing Leonard Cox should contact Chris Sharp, director of alumni relations and special events in the College of Liberal Arts, (765) 494-7884, ctsharp@purdue.edu.

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