Jonathan Luna documentary premieres in Los Angeles
This announcement reports that the documentary The Midnight Ride of Jonathan Luna will have its Los Angeles Premiere at Laemmle Theatres in Santa Monica and North Hollywood beginning Wednesday, November 18. The film screens through Tuesday, November 24 before starting a theatrical roadshow to more than twenty cities nationwide through early 2027.
This announcement summarizes the documentary subject as the early life and death of Jonathan Luna, a Black federal prosecutor whose body was found in December 2003 with over thirty stab wounds and a severed carotid artery in a rural stream in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Official reports first declared the death a drowning and then a suicide, casting aspersions on his character despite his rising status in the Justice Department. The announcement states that Luna’s autopsy was suppressed until November 2025 and showed the wounds could not have been self-inflicted and that he was brutally beaten. The case remains unsolved. The film draws largely from a 2005 book of the same name and marks the first time Luna’s colleagues, including a fellow prosecutor, a federal judge, a former police commissioner and others, have spoken candidly on camera. It also covers details of Luna’s last trial prosecuting a major murder and drug case in Baltimore at the time of his death.
This announcement profiles filmmaker Dan Cohen as a writer and director of more than thirty years. Cohen wrote and directed the National Board of Review Special Recognition for Excellence in Filmmaking award-winner Diamond Men starring Robert Forster and Donnie Wahlberg, A Stone in the Water starring Bonnie Bedelia, Melissa Fumero and David Fumero, and Corporate Affairs starring Breckin Meyer and Adam Scott. He also co-wrote and directed comedian Bruce Smirnoff’s award-winning solo show Other Than My Health I Have Nothing and has written extensively about films. Cohen authored Single Handed, the biography of Tibor Rubin, the only Holocaust survivor to earn the Medal of Honor. The book was published by Random House/Penguin in 2015 and is in development as a television mini-series.
This announcement lists the Los Angeles screening dates, times and venues. From Wednesday, November 18 to Tuesday, November 24 the film plays at Laemmle Monica Film Center, 1332 2nd St, Santa Monica at 1:00, 3:05 and 7:30 PM PST and at Laemmle NoHo 7, 5240 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood at 1:00, 3:10, 5:20 and 7:30 PM PST. Additional screenings run Friday, November 27 to Thursday, December 3 at Laemmle Glendale, 207 N. Maryland Ave, Glendale at times to be determined.
This announcement conveys the stated goals of the film to give the public and press enough information in an easily digestible form to stimulate an unbiased investigation into Jonathan Luna’s death. Director Dan Cohen states: “Our hope as filmmakers is that we have given the public and the press enough information, in an easily digestible form, to stimulate an unbiased investigation into Jonathan Luna’s death. As fellow prosecutor Jackie Rodriquez Coss tells the camera, Luna was a dedicated public servant who deserved much better than he got from his employer and ‘unnamed law enforcement’ who pushed a poorly rigged story of suicide to the public.”
This announcement notes the personal connection to Lancaster, the filmmaker’s hometown where the movie business rarely intersects with local stories apart from films such as Witness. Dan Cohen decided to cover the true crime case after the official suicide ruling was contradicted by the 2025 release of the suppressed coroner’s report showing Luna was tortured and murdered, stabbed more than thirty times with his own pocket knife. The film will play in Lancaster as part of the roadshow.
This announcement includes the technical specifications, credits and an early review quotation. The documentary runs 93 minutes in English with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio and stereo audio. Credits list writer/director Dan Cohen, writer William Keisling, producer Kathryn F. Galan, cinematographer Chuck Greenwood, editor Josh E. Williams and original score by Third Seven and Colten Tyler Williams. An early review quotation from NYC Movie Guru reads: “…a gripping, illuminating and provocative documentary about the unsolved murder of Jonathan Luna… will make audiences angry that justice hasn't been served…”
