Rounding out our coverage of the 2025 Academy Award nominees, we are joined by producers Bill Morrison (“Decasia”, “The Dockworker's Dream”, Dawson City: Frozen Time) and Jamie Kalven (of the Invisible Institute) to discuss their Oscar-nominated short, “Incident,” which depicts the police shooting of Harith “Snoop” Augustus and it’s immediate aftermath from several angles.  

Using body camera and other footage (and only that footage) that the Chicago Police–as required by law, one that Jamie had advocated for in the wake of the coverup of the shooting of Laquan McDonald–Bill has crafted a film which draws upon editing skills built through years of working with archival material, but one which is significantly more immediate and urgent than his previously beautiful and implicitly philosophically profound works.  What we witness is two narratives being formed about what happened, and to whom:  One from the police, the other from the Southside Chicago community that witnessed the events.  And we can see at work the deep causes of what happened embedded in American gun culture and the resulting police policies and practices.

“Incident” can be seen on the New Yorker Website.

Follow:

@bimo65 on Instagram and @decasia on twitter

@jamiekalven on twitter

@invisibleinstitute on Instagram and @invinst on twitter 

@topdocspod on Instagram and X

The Presenting Sponsor of "Top Docs" is Netflix.