Documentary on aftermath of Windsor, Ont.'s Creeper Hunter to premiere at Toronto's Hot Docs Festival
A Windsor, Ont.-made film that asks viewers if they can sympathize with people accused of being online predators will have its world premiere at the upcoming Hot Docs Festival in Toronto.
Shamed, by award-winning documentary maker Matt Gallagher, will be featured at the annual festival, screening April 28 and May 2 during the 10-day event.
The documentary explores the aftermath of Creeper Hunter TV — the controversial endeavour of Windsor-based online vigilante Jason Nassr.
"This is, by far, the most difficult story I've ever worked on," Gallagher told CBC Windsor.
"It's dealing with policing, vigilantism, and people who were accused of being pedophiles and predators."
Between 2015 and 2020, Nassr ran a website and a YouTube channel that detailed his elaborate efforts to ensnare and publicly humiliate "creepers" — adults who believed they were communicating with a minor.
To convince his targets, Nassr engaged them in sexually charged texting and even adopted a girlish voice in phone conversations. The catfishing would culminate in Nassr setting up an in-person meeting, where he would reveal the deception and record the reactions of the "creeper."
The materials from Nassr's "hunts" were presented in video episodes that publicized the personal phone numbers and email information of the targets.
At its height, Creeper Hunter TV had episodes on more than 90 targets, by Nassr's own estimation.
"A lot of people will look at those stories and say, 'Well, he's going after predators. He's going after people he believes are pedophiles. And even if he gets it wrong once in a while, some of these guys were probably doing bad things,'" Gallagher said in the interview.
"Crimes like pedophilia — it's one of those things that is very difficult for people to find empathy about or to understand."
Gallagher's documentary incorporates never-before-seen interviews with Nassr, as well as Creeper Hunter TV content that has since been deleted from the internet.
Exclusive interviews with law enforcement officials, legal system members and journalists are also in the documentary, along with previously unavailable court materials.
There are also extensive interviews with the family and friends of five "John Does" — the anonymous name given to men who were featured on Creeper Hunter TV and later died by suicide or drug overdose.
For Gallagher, their stories are the heart of the film.
"That was the most difficult part in the entire documentary — reaching out to people," Gallagher said. "It's just the collateral damage [of Creeper Hunter TV] ... I wanted to tell that side of the story."
Some of those grieving maintain their loved ones were innocent or mentally afflicted — such as one John Doe who was autistic.
Others decry the lack of due process and the cruelty that their loved ones experienced. A John Doe who lived in Windsor had his home surrounded by an angry crowd threatening mob justice.
Next month's premiere of Shamed is the culmination of two years of work by Gallagher and his production company, Border City Pictures.
A veteran filmmaker, Gallagher has tackled sensitive subject matter in previous documentaries, including: imminent incarceration in How to Prepare for Prison (2016), historic sexual abuse by clergy in Prey (2019), and COVID-19 among loved ones in Dispatches From a Field Hospital (2021).
Gallagher believes the investigative journalism and painstaking interviews that went into Shamed has made it the most challenging project of his career.
For example, telling one of the "John Doe" stories involved Gallagher travelling to rural Iowa, speaking with the FBI, visiting the exact spot where the man died by suicide and following the chain of custody of a piece of phone evidence in the case.
Nassr's Creeper Hunter TV activities eventually led to criminal charges against him. In February 2023, a jury found Nassr guilty of extortion and harassment by telecommunications. The Crown also successfully argued that Nassr's text messages while impersonating a minor constituted as production and distribution of child pornography.
Nassr was sentenced to 18 months of house arrest and six months with a curfew. The conditional sentence ends this October.
Shamed follows the court proceedings and captures reactions to the sentencing.
"I don't think Jason has any remorse for his actions on Creeper Hunter TV," Gallagher said. "My relationship with Jason Nassr right now is non-existent."
When Nassr spoke with CBC Windsor in November 2023, he disagreed with Gallagher's assessment — and the assessment of the Superior Court of Justice.
"I don't think I'm remorseless," Nassr said. "I think I don't have to be public about how I feel about these cases and my own actions. Giving satisfaction to people who want to blame me for somebody's death... was never going to be in the cards for me."
When pressed on the subject of remorse, Nassr replied: "I feel sorry for them because of the decisions that they made, I honestly do, because if they were to have made better choices, then they wouldn't have been in that position to be filmed — or to meet up with a child that they thought was going to be for a sexual purpose."
Gallagher said he isn't necessarily asking viewers to sympathize with "creepers," but he's taking viewers on the same journey that he experienced while making the documentary. Gallagher said his own thoughts on Creeper Hunter TV changed through his conversations with Nassr and with those grieving the deaths of the five John Does.
"What I want people to do is listen to the stories and come up with their own conclusions," Gallagher said.
Windsor viewers will be especially struck by how local the documentary feels. Instantly recognizable locations in the city appear repeatedly on the screen: Devonshire Mall, Willistead Park, downtown Ouellette Avenue and more.
Following the Hot Docs premiere, Gallagher intends to take Shamed on the film festival circuit, potentially including screenings at the 2025 Windsor International Film Festival.
The documentary will eventually be available on TVOntario (TVO), which is financing production.
As for any public backlash, or even retaliatory action by Nassr such as litigation, Gallagher said he's not worried.
"We told a really true story about a court case and a man named Jason Nassr, and the collateral damage that came from his activities," Gallagher said. "We're presenting this as fairly and balanced as possible. I stand behind the documentary, 100 per cent."
The 32nd edition of the annual Hot Docs Festival runs April 24 to May 4.
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