Amidst Legal Troubles, Alex Gibney Documentary ‘No Stone Unturned’ Pulled From Tribeca

There’s prolific, and then there’s Alex Gibney. The nonfiction filmmaker works at a rate bordering on inhuman, cranking out 14 documentaries over the past five years alone. He assembled three releases in 2016, mapping the breadth of his subjects: the alarming (and, to some, alarmist) Zero Days traced potentially ruinous lines between computer viruses and nuclear capabilities, The Agent cast a skeptical eye at the C.I.A.’s preparation and response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, and Cooked offered Gibney the chance to tackle some lighter material with a food documentary. He’ll return to weightier fare with the murder investigation doc No Stone Unturned, but a new report today indicates that he won’t do so at the Tribeca Film Festival.

The Hollywood Reporter ran an item stating that legal squabbles would bar Gibney and No Stone Unturned from their scheduled appearance at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 23. The topics at hand aren’t to be taken lightly, in all fairness; the film hones in on a 1994 shooting at a Northern Irish pub that left six dead and five wounded. The following police action never yielded any suspects, and Gibney’s got some pointed questions about why the local authorities never expended more effort on the investigation.

But unspecified “outstanding legal issues” have resulted in a complete removal from the festival lineup and reissuing of funds to all ticket-holders. Producer Trevor Birney offered the following statement:

We are bitterly disappointed that as a result of ongoing legal issues relating to the subject matter of the film, No Stone Unturned is not yet ready to be screened at Tribeca 2017. No one will feel this disappointment more than the families at the center of the film, whose quest for justice has been both inspiring and unstinting these last 23 years. It is our deepest hope that these sensitive issues can be resolved as soon as possible so that we can share this important film with the world.

Everyone loves a whodunit, but when that who that dunit also happens to be litigious, getting there can prove difficult. The film awaits a new premiere date.