True crime documentary series on 2018 Rittenhouse stabbing case set to premiere on Paramount+
Directed by filmmaker, Tigre Hill, '72 Seconds in Rittenhouse Square' premieres on Sept. 26
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A block from Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia real estate developer Sean Schellenger got into a fight with Michael White, a rap artist and food delivery worker, on July 12, 2018. In what White said was an act of self-defense, he fatally stabbed Schellenger.
White surrendered the next day and, on Oct. 17, 2019, was found not guilty of voluntary manslaughter but was sentenced to two years of probation for evidence tampering.
The incident, the subject of public debate and widespread media coverage, is the focus of a new documentary series, 72 Seconds in Rittenhouse Square, set to premiere on Paramount+ on Sept. 26.
“The death of Sean Schellenger in Philadelphia’s most vibrant and ritzy neighborhood rocked a city long divided by racial tension. And for the city’s new district attorney, it became the first test case of his progressive approach to criminal justice,” The Inquirer reported in October 2018.
72 Seconds is a three-part series directed by filmmaker Tigre Hill, who made the 2006 documentary The Shame of a City, about the mayoral race between John F. Street and Sam Katz. Hill also made the 2010 documentary The Barrel of a Gun, on Mumia Abu-Jamal’s arrest for the murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981.
“It became a big story because you were dealing with someone who had money, privilege, connections … and you had a kid from North Philadelphia,” says a voice-over in a trailer for 72 Seconds. The documentary series, per a newsrelease, “navigates dueling perspectives and encourages audiences to question, doubt, and challenge everything they may have believed about this case before.”
It speaks to family members of both White and Schellenger, and uses archival footage and cell phone videos to construct and deconstruct the events of that fateful July night and the debate around race, criminal justice, and justice it inspired. The release promises a “never-before-seen cell phone video” of the clash that will reveal a twist not known to many.
“I was worried about when I am going to get an opportunity to tell the truth. If I don’t make them feel where I am coming from, it’s over,” White says in the trailer.
The series is produced by Ark Media for See It Now Studios, which has also produced Superpower, actor Sean Penn’s documentary on the war in Ukraine.
“72 Seconds in Rittenhouse Square” premieres on Paramount+ on Sept. 26.