Just Another Missing Kid
Encyclopedia
Just Another Missing Kid is a 1981 documentary film
about the search for a missing teenager directed by John Zaritsky
. Eric Wilson had left his native Ottawa
in July 1978 in a Volkswagen
camper on a trip to Boulder, Colorado
. Somewhere in Nebraska
he disappeared. The movie traces how his family and a private investigator work to find out what had happened. The film focuses on how little help the various police forces were and is an indictment of the apathy and bureaucracy of the legal system on both sides of the border. Raymond Hatch and Bertram Davis, hitchhikers Wilson had picked up, eventually confessed to the murder. The long-time criminal and drifter Hatch, who had committed the murder, was sentenced to 26 years in prison, but was released after serving 13. In 1994 he stabbed his girlfriend with a knife and was convicted of assault for which he served 9 months in jail. In a follow-up to the story from 1995, the fifth estate
reported that Hatch had resumed his drifting. He died in 2000.http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/missingkid/update.html
Originally produced by CBC Television
for the documentary news program the fifth estate, it was broadcast on CBC television to much acclaim in 1981. It was released in theatres in the United States in 1982. In Canada it won an ACTRA Award
for the best television program and garnered a number of international awards, including the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for 1982.
In this film, Zaritsky broke new ground for documentaries by having the interview subjects recreate their actions for the camera. This caused some controversy as some critics and filmmakers felt these recreations did not make it a true documentary. In later years Zaritsky himself agreed the technique should not be used. However it has since been widely used by other documentary filmmakers.
The story was later re-told in fictionalized form in a made for television movie called Into Thin Air. The film starred Ellen Burstyn
as the mother and was aired in 1985.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
about the search for a missing teenager directed by John Zaritsky
John Zaritsky
John Zaritsky is a Canadian documentarian film maker. He was the recipient of an Academy Award in 1982 for his documentary Just Another Missing Kid. He also won a Cable Ace Award in 1987 for Rapists: Can They be Stopped, a Golden Gavel Award from the American Bar Association for My Husband is...
. Eric Wilson had left his native Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
in July 1978 in a Volkswagen
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
camper on a trip to Boulder, Colorado
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...
. Somewhere in Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
he disappeared. The movie traces how his family and a private investigator work to find out what had happened. The film focuses on how little help the various police forces were and is an indictment of the apathy and bureaucracy of the legal system on both sides of the border. Raymond Hatch and Bertram Davis, hitchhikers Wilson had picked up, eventually confessed to the murder. The long-time criminal and drifter Hatch, who had committed the murder, was sentenced to 26 years in prison, but was released after serving 13. In 1994 he stabbed his girlfriend with a knife and was convicted of assault for which he served 9 months in jail. In a follow-up to the story from 1995, the fifth estate
The fifth estate
the fifth estate is a Canadian television newsmagazine, which airs on the English language CBC Television network. The name is a play on the fact that the media are sometimes referred to as the Fourth Estate, and was chosen to highlight the program's determination to go beyond everyday news into...
reported that Hatch had resumed his drifting. He died in 2000.http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/missingkid/update.html
Originally produced by CBC Television
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
for the documentary news program the fifth estate, it was broadcast on CBC television to much acclaim in 1981. It was released in theatres in the United States in 1982. In Canada it won an ACTRA Award
ACTRA Award
The ACTRA Awards were first presented in 1972 to celebrate excellence in Canada's television, film and radio industry. Organized and presented by ACTRA, the Association of Canadian Television and Radio Artists, which represented performers, writers and broadcast journalists, the Nellie statuettes...
for the best television program and garnered a number of international awards, including the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for 1982.
In this film, Zaritsky broke new ground for documentaries by having the interview subjects recreate their actions for the camera. This caused some controversy as some critics and filmmakers felt these recreations did not make it a true documentary. In later years Zaritsky himself agreed the technique should not be used. However it has since been widely used by other documentary filmmakers.
The story was later re-told in fictionalized form in a made for television movie called Into Thin Air. The film starred Ellen Burstyn
Ellen Burstyn
Ellen Burstyn is a leading American actress of film, stage, and television. Burstyn's career began in theatre during the late 1950s, and over the next ten years she appeared in several films and television series before joining the Actors Studio in 1967...
as the mother and was aired in 1985.