Against the backdrop of sunbaked parking lots, deserted courthouses, and empty suburban homes — the familiar spaces of true crime, stripped of all action and spectacle — a filmmaker describes his abandoned Zodiac Killer documentary and probes the inner workings of a genre at saturation point.

The true crime genre’s ubiquity is driven by people’s endless fascination, disgust, and — bizarrely — search for comfort in genre conventions that still have the ability to generate complex emotions despite their predictability and familiarity. Filmmaker and multimedia artist Charlie Shackleton’s projects have used his uniquely funny, intellectually engaging style to examine how popular culture, mass media, and storytelling create meaning. In this wholly original, self-aware cinematic work, Shackleton dissects the true crime genre by recreating it. Using Bay Area landscapes, archival material, reenactments, film and TV clips, and voice-over to walk the viewer through what his film would have been like and why, Zodiac Killer Project is a captivating and entertaining experience that will forever change how you watch your next murder program.—Sudeep Sharma

Available in person. Also available online for the public (January 30–February 2) and credentialed press and industry (January 29–February 2).