"16 Shots" documentary premiering tonight at the Hollywood Arclight
Recent color grading work on a new documentary for Showtime. 16 Shots examines the 2014 shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke and the cover-up that ensued. After the police initially declared the shooting as justified, journalists and activists fought for footage of the event to be released, sending the Chicago Police Department and local Chicago government officials into upheaval as the community demanded justice. Rowley’s film dissects the cover-up through first-hand witness accounts which led to the unprecedented conviction that fractured the political landscape of Chicago. 16 Shots premieres on Friday, June 14 at 9/8c.
From Reelscreen:
CBS-owned Showtime Documentary Films has set a mid-June premiere date for 16 Shots, the forthcoming feature-length documentary from Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Richard Rowley (Dirty Wars).
Through first-hand witness accounts, 16 Shots will look to dissect the 2014 shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, who was fatally wounded by Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke, and the police cover-up that followed.
On October 20, 2014, McDonald was reported to have been acting erratically in public while holding a folding knife. Internal reports initially declared the shooting as justified and Van Dyke was not charged in McDonald’s death at that time.
Activists and journalists, however, fought for body and dash cam footage of the event to be released. When video came to light 13 months later, the footage revealed that McDonald had been walking away from police officers when he was shot. Van Dyke would be charged that same day with first-degree murder, and would eventually be found guilty of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm.
“The shooting of Laquan McDonald tore up Chicago in ways the city is still processing today,” said Vinnie Malhotra, EVP of non-fiction programming at Showtime Networks Inc., in a statement “With 16 Shots, Rick Rowley and his team deliver an unflinching and deep look at one of the most notorious police shootings in our history.”
The film is a joint production from Midnight Productions, Topic Studios, Impact Partners and the Chicago Media Project.
Executive producers include Jacqueline Soohen, Michael Bloom, Lisa Leingang, Dan Cogan, Jenny Raskin, Geralyn White Dreyfous, Ken Nolan and Brian Kenney.
16 Shots is set to premiere June 14 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Showtime. Check out a trailer for the documentary below.