Shooting Format: Black Magic Production Camera ARRI Alexa MiniĭEVELOPMENT AND FINANCING Audition tapes of Casting JonBenetįor Australian filmmaker Kitty Green, documentary filmmaking has long been a process of thinking outside the box. All that being said, I’ll definitely be watching this one.Producers: Kitty Green, Scott Macaulay, James Schamus This new film looks at the crime from another angle, but do you think it was really necessary? It’s obvious the crime affected the world, but there’s a pretty good chance it will never be solved, and it’s just sad to keep dredging up the horrible memories associated with a 20-year-old murder. In fact, if you haven’t watched the documentary about Amanda Knox on the service, add it to your queue immediately. Netflix is the ideal home for showcasing Kitty’s sharply-rendered vision of a mythic American tragedy to a global audience, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the crime.Īs I’ve mentioned before, I was riveted by Making A Murderer and Netflix puts out a tasteful, compelling true crime project. Kitty boldly embraces the tradition of innovative risk-taking within the documentary filmmaking mode with her remarkable work on ‘Casting JonBenét,’. The service’s VP of Original Documentary Programming, Lisa Nishimura, tells Variety: Netflix certainly seems excited about it. Kitty was not able to interview any of the prime players in the case, including investigators and the Ramsey family for the project, so it will be interesting to see how this “sly and stylized exploration” will play out. It will also explore “how this crime and it’s resulting mythologies have shaped the attitudes and behavior of successive generations of parents and children.” Instead of addressing the more lurid aspects of the case, including implying that JonBenét’s brother Burke accidentally murdered his sister and accusations that parents Jon and Patsy tried to cover up the killing, Casting JonBenét will focus on how the murder and subsequent investigation have affected the community of the Ramsey’s hometown in Colorado. This is the first non-fiction film from Netflix that has competed at the festival.
Documentary Competition at the Sundance Film Festival before a limited run in theaters and becoming available on Netflix in the spring of this year. The latter, telling the story of the Olympic figure skater, premiered at Sundance in 2015 and won the short film non-fiction jury prize.Ĭasting JonBenét will make its world premiere as part of the U.S. New film Casting JonBenét is described as a “sly and stylized exploration of the world’s most sensational child-murder case.” It’s directed by Kitty Green, an award-winning documentarian who has previously directed Ukraine Is Not a Brothel and The Face of Ukraine: Casting Oksana Baiul. The streaming service which brought us Making A Murderer could be responsible for the most intelligent and sensitive take on the crime, which still is a source of interest for many people. After a slew of special documentaries and a Lifetime movie, Netflix is providing viewers with another take on the tragic event. If you thought that 2017 would bring the end of documentaries focusing on the still-unsolved case of the murder of JonBenét Ramsey, you might want to think again.