Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?
Crime & Punishment • 1h 30m
Directed by Travis Wilkerson • Documentary • 2018 • 90 minutes
“In 1946, my great-grandfather murdered a black man named Bill Spann and got away with it.” So begins Travis Wilkerson’s critically acclaimed documentary, Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?, which takes us on a journey through the American South to uncover the truth behind a horrific incident and the societal mores that allowed it to happen. Acting as narrator and guide, Wilkerson spins a strange, frightening tale, incorporating scenes from To Kill a Mockingbird, the music of Janelle Monáe and Phil Ochs, and the story of Rosa Parks’ investigation into the Recy Taylor case, as well as his own family history, for a gripping investigation into our collective past and its echoes into the present day.
Critic's Pick! "A scorching and rigorous essay… a passionately political film, aflame with rage…" - A.O. Scott, The New York Times
Up Next in Crime & Punishment
-
Frame Up!
Directed by Steven Fischler, Joel Sucher and Howard Blatt • Documentary • 1974 • 30 minutes
Examining the case of Martin Sostre, a black Puerto Rican bookstore owner in Buffalo, New York who was framed on drug possession charges in 1967 and sentenced to prison, this film shows how the American j...
-
The Law
Directed by Jules Dassin • Drama • With Gina Lollobrigida, Pierre Brasseur, Marcello Mastroianni, Melina Mercouri • 1959 • 121 minutes
THE LAW (previously released in the US as Where the Hot Wind Blows) stars Gina Lollobrigida, Marcello Mastroianni, Yves Montand, Melina Mercouri, and Pierre Bras...
-
Lock-Up: The Prisoners of Rikers Island
Directed by Nina Rosenblum, Jon Alpert • Documentary • 1994 • 75 minutes
If you’re arrested in New York City and can’t make bail, you’ll be sent to Rikers Island—a mammoth holding facility for 17,000 men and women awaiting trial. Jon Alpert spent ten months filming there, coming away with a grap...
