A Windsor movie, made in Ontario, who asks viewers if they can sympathize with people accused of being predators online will have their world premiere at the next Hot Docios Festival in Toronto.
Ashamed For the award -winning documentary Matt Gallagher, he will be presented at the Annual Festival, projected on April 28 and May 2 during the 10 -day event.
The documentary explores the sequelae of Creeper Hunter TV, the controversial effort of the online vigilant Jasson Nassr based in Windsor.
“This is, with much, the most difficult story I have worked on,” Gallagher told CBC Windsor.
“It is dealing with surveillance, vigilantism and people accused of being pedophiles and predators.”
Between 2015 and 2020, Nassr directed a website and a YouTube channel that detailed its elaborate efforts to trap and publicly humiliate “vines”, adults who believed they were communicating with a minor.
To convince their objectives, Nassr hired them in text messages with sexual positions and even adopted a female voice in telephone conversations. Cat fishing would culminate in Nassr establishing a meeting in person, where it would reveal the deception and record the reactions of the “vine”.
Nassr’s “hunts” materials were presented in video episodes that advertised personal telephone numbers and email information.
At its peak, Creeper Hunter TV had episodes in more than 90 objectives, according to Nassr’s own estimate.
“Many people will look at those stories and say: ‘Well, he goes after predators. He goes after people who believe they are pedophiles. And even if he is wrong occasionally, some of these guys were probably doing bad things,” Gallagher said in the interview.
“Crimes such as pedophilia: it is one of those things that is very difficult for people to find empathy or understand.”
The Gallagher documentary incorporates interviews never seen with Nassr, as well as the TV content of Creeper Hunter that has since been eliminated from the Internet.
Exclusive interviews with officials responsible for enforcing the law, members of the legal system and journalists are also in the documentary, together with previously not available judicial materials.
There are also extensive interviews with the family and friends of five “John Does”, the anonymous name given to the men who appeared in Creeper Hunter TV and then died from suicide or drug overdose.
For Gallagher, his stories are the heart of the film.
“That was the most difficult part in the entire documentary, reaching people,” Gallagher said. “It’s just collateral damage [of Creeper Hunter TV] … I wanted to tell that side of the story. “
Some of the afflicted keep their loved ones innocent or mentally afflicted, such as a John Doe who was autistic.
Others denounce the lack of due process and the cruelty that their loved ones experienced. A John Doe who lived in Windsor had his home surrounded by an angry crowd that threatened the justice of the mafia.
The premiere of next month of Ashamed It is the culmination of two years of work by Gallagher and its production company, Border City Pictures.
Veteran filmmaker, Gallagher has addressed sensitive issues in previous documentaries, including: imminent imprisonment in How to prepare for prison (2016), historical sexual abuse by clergy in Prey (2019) and COVID-19 among their loved ones in Offices from a field hospital (2021).
Gallagher believes that research journalism and the attenuated interviews that got into Ashamed He has made him the most challenging project of his career.
For example, telling one of the stories of “John Doe” involved Gallagher traveling to the rural area of Iowa, speaking with the FBI, visiting the exact place where the man died for suicide and following the chain of custody of telephone evidence in the case.
The TV activities of the Nassr hunter hunter finally led criminal charges against him. In February 2023, a jury found Nassr guilty of extortion and harassment for telecommunications. The crown also successfully argued that Nassr’s text messages while making a minor constituted as production and distribution of child pornography.
Nassr was sentenced to 18 months of house arrest and six months with a curfew. Conditional prayer ends this October.
Ashamed Follow the judicial procedures and capture reactions to the sentence.
“I don’t think Jason has any regret for his actions at Creeper Hunter TV,” Gallagher said. “My relationship with Jason Nassr at this time is non -existent.”
When Nassr spoke with CBC Windsor in November 2023, he did not agree with the evaluation of Gallagher and the evaluation of the Superior Court of Justice.
“I don’t think it’s not a plump,” said Nassr. “I think I don’t have to be public about how I feel about these cases and my own actions. Give satisfaction to people who want to blame me for the death of someone … I would never be in the letters for me.”
When he was pressed on the issue of remorse, Nassr replied: “I feel sorry for them due to the decisions they made, I honestly do it, because if they had made better decisions, then they would not have been in that position to be filmed, or meet with a child who thought they were going to be for a sexual purpose.”
Gallagher said he is not necessarily asking viewers to sympathize with “vines”, but is taking the spectators to the same trip he experienced while doing the documentary. Gallagher said his own thoughts about Creeper Hunter TV changed through their conversations with Nassr and with those who afflicted the death of the five John.
“What I want people to do is listen to the stories and reach their own conclusions,” Gallagher said.
Windsor spectators will be especially surprised by how the local documentary feels. Recognizable locations instantly in the city appear repeatedly on the screen: Devonshire Mall, Willistead Park, the center of Ouellette Avenue and more.
After Hot Doc premiere, Gallagher intends to take Ashamed In the film festival circuit, potentially including projections at the Windsor International Film Festival of 2025.
The documentary will eventually be available in Tvontario (TVO), which is financing production.
As for any public reaction, or even a retaliation action by Nassr as litigation, Gallagher said he is not worried.
“We tell a really true story about a judicial case and a man named Jasson Nassr, and the collateral damage that came from his activities,” Gallagher said. “We are presenting this as fair and balanced as possible. I am behind the documentary, 100 percent.”
The 32nd edition of the Annual Hot Doc Festival is executed from April 24 to May 4.
