In this special episode we discuss the films and symposiums of the inaugural Toronto True Crime Film Festival, a two day festival devoted to true crime on the big screen, including both documentaries and fictionalized films based on true crimes. The program included five features, each paired with a thematically linked short film, and three symposiums that covered a remarkable variety of true crime cases and related topics.

This was a grand time and Toronto is a wonderful city to spend a weekend in, delving deeply into the darkness in our hearts. We look forward to next year!

The Toronto True Crime Film Festival 2018 Line Up:

• Maybe If It Were a Nice Room (Harris, 2016)

• Abducted in Plain Sight (Borgman, 2017)

• Traffic Stop (Davis, Heilbroner, 2017)

• My Name Is Myeisha (Krieger, 2018)

• The Sandman (Knapp, 2017)

• Monster (Jenkins, 2003)

• 42 Counts (Gevargizian, 2018)

• The Stranger (Horanyi, 2017)

• Don’t Be a Hero (Lee, 2018)

• Hostages (Gigineishvili, 2017)

The Symposiums:

• Why Do Women Love True Crime?

• L.A. Despair: Chasing Death with John Gilmore

• The Rise of the Armchair Detective

What you’ll find in this episode: shocking family secrets, jaw-dropping revelations, systemic injustice, human wreckage, heists, hijackings, and one French Bulldog.

– Cole and Ericca

Links:

The home of the Toronto True Crime Film Festival

The work of Alicia K. Harris

The online home of Skye Borgman

An interview with Rickerby Hinds on hip hop, theatre, and teaching

The fascinating, heartbreaking story of Peggy Jo Tallas