Kill Your Darling
Director Jaap van Hoewijk
Countries Netherlands, United Kingdom
Duration 78 min
Synopsis
For three years the filmmaker followed the Rotterdam police investigation into the unsolved 1990 murder of an unidentified female. The remains could not be identified until 2008, with new DNA techniques: the headless woman proved to be the missing American photo model Melissa Halstead. During the investigation a connection is made between the Rotterdam murder and another gruesome murder in London in 2001. Both victims seem to be associated with the British carpenter John Sweeney. In John Sweeney's flat his Art Brut is found: poems and hundreds of drawings. Both the detectives and the filmmaker start analysing Sweeney's art. While the criminal proceedings in the Old Bailey in London are ongoing, the film director receives a letter from John Sweeney. In this lengthy letter, Sweeney sheds his light on the relationship he had with Melissa; told from a personal perspective, and dramatically different from the prosecutors' view in court.
For three years the filmmaker followed the Rotterdam police investigation into the unsolved 1990 murder of an unidentified female. The remains could not be identified until 2008, with new DNA techniques: the headless woman proved to be the missing American photo model Melissa Halstead. During the investigation a connection is made between the Rotterdam murder and another gruesome murder in London in 2001. Both victims seem to be associated with the British carpenter John Sweeney. In John Sweeney's flat his Art Brut is found: poems and hundreds of drawings. Both the detectives and the filmmaker start analysing Sweeney's art. While the criminal proceedings in the Old Bailey in London are ongoing, the film director receives a letter from John Sweeney. In this lengthy letter, Sweeney sheds his light on the relationship he had with Melissa; told from a personal perspective, and dramatically different from the prosecutors' view in court.