Zodiac Killer Project

Charlie Shackleton never secured the screen rights to the obsessive quest of Lyndon Lafferty, a former police officer who for years chased a serial killer who was never unmasked. The project could easily have ended there. Instead, the British filmmaker sidestepped the obstacle, delivering an expanded version of the original concept, deconstructing the very codes of true crime before our eyes.
Shackleton taps into our enduring fascination with sensational news stories and our collective appetite for conspiracy narratives — both of which are woven through Lafferty’s book. The retired cop is convinced he has uncovered the identity of the elusive killer, and just as convinced that powerful forces have conspired to block his pursuit of the truth. Working from this source material, Shackleton spins his own investigation, reconstructing, almost scene by scene, the film he wishes he could have made. Blending the tropes of true crime documentaries with the contemplative aesthetics of art cinema, Shackleton crafts a work that is both playful and sharp-edged. Guided by his wry, offbeat narration, we navigate the twists and turns of a story as labyrinthine as the obsessions it explores, with an incisive and subversive result.
Katy Léna Ndiaye

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