True Crime on Screen

The cases that haunted us — on film

Documentary filmmakers who refused to let cases stay closed. From wrongful convictions to mass atrocities, these are the films that changed minds and sometimes changed outcomes.

Crime Documentary
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Created: July 16, 2025

The Collection

The Thin Blue Line

The Thin Blue Line

1988
1
The Thin Blue Line
1988
1
The Thin Blue Line
IMDb 7.9 / 10
Director Errol Morris
Cast Randall Adams, David Harris, Gus Rose
Box Office $1,209,846
Why Errol Morris reopens the Randall Dale Adams murder case with reenactments and got him out of prison…
The Act of Killing

The Act of Killing

2012
2
The Act of Killing
2012
2
The Act of Killing
IMDb 8.2 / 10
Director Joshua Oppenheimer, Anonymous, Christine Cynn
Cast Anwar Congo, Herman Koto, Syamsul Arifin
Box Office $486,919
Why Joshua Oppenheimer asks Indonesian death-squad killers to dramatize their crimes in any genre they …
Capturing the Friedmans

Capturing the Friedmans

2003
3
Capturing the Friedmans
2003
3
Capturing the Friedmans
IMDb 7.6 / 10
Director Andrew Jarecki
Cast Arnold Friedman, Jesse Friedman, David Friedman
Box Office $3,119,113
Why Jarecki's family archive of a child-abuse case that fractures the audience and the witnesses. The f…
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father

Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father

2008
4
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
2008
4
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
IMDb 8.5 / 10
Director Kurt Kuenne
Cast Kurt Kuenne, Andrew Bagby, David Bagby
Box Office $18,334
Why Kuenne's tribute to his murdered friend becomes a custody documentary that becomes a true-crime ind…
Three Identical Strangers

Three Identical Strangers

2018
5
Three Identical Strangers
2018
5
Three Identical Strangers
IMDb 7.6 / 10
Director Tim Wardle
Cast Robert Shafran, Michael Domnitz, Howard Schneider
Box Office $12,320,845
Why Wardle's documentary about triplets adopted separately turns into a 1960s eugenics scandal. The reu…
The Imposter

The Imposter

2012
6
The Imposter
2012
6
The Imposter
IMDb 7.5 / 10
Director Bart Layton
Cast Adam O'Brian, Nicholas Barclay, Carey Gibson
Box Office $898,317
Why Bart Layton films a 23-year-old French con artist impersonating a missing Texas teenager — and the …
Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer

Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer

2003
7
Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer
2003
7
Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer
IMDb 7.1 / 10
Director Nick Broomfield, Joan Churchill
Cast Aileen Wuornos, Nick Broomfield, Terry Humphreys-Slay
Box Office $97,362
Why Nick Broomfield's second Aileen Wuornos documentary, made as she awaits execution. The film documen…
Tabloid

Tabloid

2010
8
Tabloid
2010
8
Tabloid
IMDb 7.0 / 10
Director Errol Morris
Cast Joyce McKinney, Peter Tory, Troy Williams
Box Office $696,921
Why Morris returns to true crime via Joyce McKinney's 1977 Mormon kidnapping. The film knows the case i…
I, Tonya

I, Tonya

2017
9
I, Tonya
2017
9
I, Tonya
IMDb 7.5 / 10
Director Craig Gillespie
Cast Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan, Allison Janney
Box Office $30,014,539
Why Craig Gillespie reframes Tonya Harding as the working-class scapegoat the case actually was. The mo…
Zodiac

Zodiac

2007
10
Zodiac
2007
10
Zodiac
IMDb 7.7 / 10
Director David Fincher
Cast Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo
Box Office $33,080,084
Why Fincher's narrative film is documentary in method: every newsroom call, every cipher, every dead le…

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