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Music Box Films has acquired U.S. distribution rights to “Zodiac Killer Project,” director Charlie Shackleton’s true-crime documentary that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. The film was awarded the NEXT Innovator Award for its “witty narration and fascinating and deft storytelling.”
The film also screened at SXSW, First Look, True/False and CPH:DOX, and has its Los Angeles premiere on Sunday at the Los Angeles Festival of Movies. Music Box will set a theatrical release later this year, with a home entertainment release to follow.
“Zodiac Killer Project” is “a sly, sideways spin on the true crime genre, fashioned by a filmmaker who lovingly critiques the tropes and cliches of the form with a connoisseur’s eye,” according to a statement. Using Bay Area landscapes, stylized b-roll and archival material to tell the story of an abandoned documentary about the infamous and still unsolved serial murders of the late 1960s, Shackleton’s film is “an improbable resurrection that blends ruminative speculation and chilling anecdotes with a melancholic air of irresolution.”
Music Box said: “We were stunned by the wit and creativity of ‘Zodiac Killer Project’ when we caught it at its Sundance premiere. It’s a film for everyone – people who want true crime docs pumped into their veins and people who think the endless proliferation of lurid streaming docs is a harbinger of civilization’s decline. Charlie has found a new way of approaching a very familiar genre – the first work of meditative, avant-garde investigative journalism.”
Shackleton said: “ ‘Zodiac Killer Project’ rose from the ashes of a film no one will ever see, so every chance it has to screen for an audience means a lot to me. I’m thrilled to be working with Music Box Films to bring it to theatres, and disappoint even more people who want to learn anything at all about the Zodiac Killer.”
Films We Like will release the film in Canadian territories. It was produced by Catherine Bray, Anthony Ing and Shackleton. The sale of the film’s U.S. distribution was negotiated by Brian Andreotti of Music Box and Jason Ishikawa at Cinetic Media on behalf of the filmmakers.
