Official HBO Trailer for ‘Burden of Proof’ Disappearance Docu-Drama
by Alex Billington
May 25, 2023
Source: YouTube
“I think my mother knows what happens… My father scared her to keep this secret.” HBO has revealed an official trailer for a chilling docu-drama series titled Burden of Proof, from filmmaker Cynthia Hill. This is a documentary about a real cold case, but it’s shot and presented as a docu-drama with recreations and slick cinematography that makes it all look like a fictional HBO series. Decades after his sister disappeared, a brother is determined to find the truth no matter the cost. Shot in cinema verité over seven years, the series unfolds in real time. It focuses on a man named Stephen who launches his own investigation into what he fears may have transpired in his parents’ house back in 1987 the night his sister Jennifer vanished and a suspicious handwritten note left as the only clue. A rich, complicated narrative emerges while Stephen is left to wonder the price he has paid by pursuing this painful search for closure. Another of these true crime offerings for everyone addicted to horrible stories from America. This looks quite unsettling to watch.
Here’s the official trailer (+ poster) for Cynthia Hill’s doc series Burden of Proof, direct from YouTube:
When 15-year-old Jennifer Pandos went missing in 1987, her parents told everyone she ran away. Decades later, her brother Stephen begins a relentless odyssey in search of the truth. His investigation into the case threatens to destroy his family as he becomes strongly convinced that his parents are both implicated in the crime. As time passes by… more threads unravel and new evidence comes to light, Stephen starts to question everything he has come to believe. Burden of Proof is a doc series directed by the award-winning filmmaker Cynthia Hill, director of the doc films Tobacco Money Feeds My Family, The Guestworker, and Private Violence previously, as well as the other doc series “A Chef’s Life”, “Somewhere South” and “What Happened, Brittany Murphy?” most recently. It’s produced by Christine Delp and Field of Vision + The Concordia Fellowship for HBO Documentary Films. This hasn’t premiered at any festivals or elsewhere, as far as we know. HBO will debut Burden of Proof streaming on Max starting June 6th, 2023 this summer.