Director Keith Maitland transforms tragedy into art in this mesmerizing and inventive documentary. In 1966, a sniper terrorized the University of Texas-Austin campus, shooting from its clock tower for 96 minutes of random killing and wounding. The film revisits that day, seamlessly combining live-action modeled animation, archival footage, and present-day interviews. Maitland’s innovative techniques and focus on concrete details—the day’s heat, the tolling of the tower’s clock, the irony of taking shelter behind a statue of Jefferson Davis—allow viewers to take a fresh look at a sadly familiar evil. Told from multiple perspectives—victims, witnesses, police officers, and reporters—the movie is a mosaic of interwoven narratives, at times a suspenseful thriller or unconventional love story. Ultimately, Maitland is interested less in the sniper than in how ordinary people reacted to the unfolding horror. The film is an unexpectedly invigorating and layered portrait of the human response to inhuman violence.
Guest in attendance 10/8 & 10/9: Hillary Pierce (producer)