On November 18, True/False and the Jonathan B. Murray Center for Documentary Journalism at the University of Missouri are thrilled to co-present a special screening of the new documentary KILLING THEM SAFELY at the Missouri Theatre. Directed by local filmmaker Nick Berardini, KILLING THEM SAFELY is a gripping, nuanced study of Taser International as they confront charges that their eponymous product, which was sold to police forces as a non-lethal defense alternative, has killed civilians. KILLING THEM SAFELY premiered to great acclaim at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year (under its former title, TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RIFLE) and was picked up by distributor Sundance Selects, who will release the film in theaters nationwide. Berardini will participate in a post-screening Q&A at the November 18 screening, which starts at 7:30pm (doors open at 7pm). Tickets cost $10 and will be available at www.truefalse.org starting October 1.

In recent years, mid-Missouri’s growing film community has produced several outstanding works of nonfiction cinema, including Andrew Droz Palermo & Tracy Droz Tragos’ Sundance-winning RICH HILL and Chad Freidrichs’ THE PRUITT-IGOE MYTH. KILLING THEM SAFELY, directed by University of Missouri Journalism School graduate Berardini, co-edited and co-photographed by former Columbia resident Nathan Truesdell and produced by Columbia residents Brock Williams (Boxcar Films) and Jamie Gonçalves, is the latest example. Following its Tribeca premiere, the film screened at North America’s largest documentary festival, Hot Docs. Then, this summer, both Berardini and Gonçalves (a True/False core staff member) were named to Filmmaker Magazine’s esteemed 25 New Faces of Independent Film list.

For Berardini, the film is the result of a winding, all-consuming six-year journey. In August 2008, a police officer fired a taser at Stanley Harlan, a 23-year-old Moberly resident, who lost consciousness and was pronounced dead two hours later. Then an MU broadcast journalism student working at KOMU (underneath current Murray Center director Stacey Woelfel), Berardini reported on the incident. Shortly thereafter, he started production on the documentary, which took him all across the continent. Berardini learned extensive details about similar cases, acquired many hours of archival material and, crucially, secured an interview with Taser International Vice President Steve Tuttle, a peculiar and fascinating spokesman whose performance serves as the film’s backbone. Berardini then edited his engrossing, disturbing, sometimes darkly amusing film alongside True/False alumni Robert Greene (ACTRESS, FAKE IT SO REAL), who is now Filmmaker In Chief at the Murray Center.

For more information about the film, check out interviews with Berardini at Tribeca Film, Newsweek, and Business Insider. Berardini also penned this piece for The Daily Beast.

Tickets available here.