There are documentaries that entertain, documentaries that educate, and then there’s Dear Zachary – a film that will tear your heart out and leave you forever changed. What begins as a loving tribute to a murdered father becomes a harrowing expose of systemic failure and unimaginable loss.
Filmmaker Kurt Kuenne set out to create a video scrapbook for his best friend Andrew Bagby’s unborn son after Andrew was brutally murdered by his ex-girlfriend. But when the killer – still free on bail – gave birth to Zachary, the story took a nightmarish turn. The documentary chronicles Andrew’s parents’ desperate fight to protect their grandson from the woman who took their son’s life, only to be failed at every turn by a legal system that valued parental rights over child safety.
The film’s devastating climax – when Shirley Turner commits the unthinkable – will leave you breathless with grief and white-hot with rage. More than just true crime, Dear Zachary becomes a primal scream about justice denied and love persevering through unbearable pain.
