Mordet på Jannick
The Murder Of Jannick
DR3 10. september 2015 (43 minutter)
Danish documentary (43 minutes)
CREDITS
Director: Kåre Bjerglund
Creative producer, writer: Peter Hammer
Editor: Joakim Eggert
Videographers: Snorre Ruhe, Freja Sofie Kirk, Joakim Eggert, Kasper Helms Thorsøe
Research: Mette Mohr Martensen
Based on an idea by: Thomas Klinkby, Sine Ivic
Sound mix: Alex Pavlovic
Colorgrading: Nikolai Utke
Production: Lene Ellekær
Executive producer: Erik Struve Hansen
Commissioning editor, DR3: Mads Kromann Andersen
Produced by DR Ung © 2015
Jannick Nordsted is 19 years old. Even though he knows his life is in jeopardy he doesn’t tell his friends or family about his situation before he dies. The only one with whom he shares his secret is a girl who only Jannick knows: Michelle. Michelle is Jannicks killer.
This is how the story begins. In reality (spoiler alert!) this is the tragic story of Jannick, a young man who committed suicide at the age of 19. But we approach it as a suspenseful thriller applying the conventions of the ‘true crime’, a genre that has proven much more able to engage a young audience than the traditional sob story.
We know this also raises a number of ethical issues concerning the characters in the documentary, all friends and familiy of the diseased, as well as the audience (not least the LGBTQ community that has a higher stake in this specific story as Jannick's alter ego was the transgender girl named Michelle whom we claim killed Jannick for the sake of the narrative). However, everyone involved was fully aware and appreciative of the plot we wanted to apply and the documentary was later nominated for a LGBTQ film award.
When Jannick dies approximately on the mid point of the film we retrace the steps of Jannick and reevaluate the information that has been given in the first half of the story. This brings into question the identity of Michelle and it becomes clear that Jannick and Michelle are one and the same and so by the beginning of the third act the crime plot thickens (or rather dissolves) and becomes an unmasking portrait of a boy who wanted to be a girl and who took his leave from this world as such: as much as his relatives disapproves of his decision to kill himself they have come a long way in getting to know their friend, brother, and son – or rather, friend, sister, and daughter – and thus probably themselves.
The Murder of Jannick is the pivotal point between two programming themes for the broadcaster: In august- september DR3 featured a trove of programming with a common theme of killing, homicide, murder. And september-october brought two series and a number of feature documentaries regarding suicide among young people in Denmark.
Nominations:
BENT-prisen 2015
The AIBs 'current affairs' 2016
Prix Europa 'best documentary' 2016