Filmmaker Charlie Shackleton (who also directs, narrates, and edits) takes a fascinating, meta-approach in his new film, Zodiac Killer Project. The film has already garnered acclaim, winning the 2025 Sundance Film Festival NEXT Innovator Award.
Shackleton initially set out to create a traditional, riveting account of the infamous Zodiac Killer, focusing on a highway patrolman’s dedicated, yet unsuccessful, effort to capture him. Shackleton collected interviews and shot “evocative B-roll” of ghostly California highways where the killer once operated.
When the original project fell apart, Shackleton was left with fragments and the time to ruminate. What emerges from the ash heap of the unfinished film is beautifully assembled, witty, and profound. It looks into our pervasive obsession with serial killers and the familiar shortcuts and signifiers we demand from the ubiquitous true crime genre.
Charlie Shackleton is a non-fiction filmmaker known for working across film, television, radio, and immersive media. He is a third of the London-based production outfit Loop. His films have been showcased at major festivals including Sundance, IDFA, and SXSW, earning accolades like a British Independent Film Award and a Grierson Award. His previous performance film, As Mine Exactly, won the Immersive Art & XR Award at the 2022 BFI London Film Festival.
Shackleton’s Zodiac Killer Project probes and deconstructs the form with the critical eye of a true crime connoisseur. It opens on Friday, November 21st, in New York with a broader release to follow.
