TALKING POINT

Utterly implausible but completely true, this astonishing documentary explores how a con man convinced a grieving family that he was their missing son.

In 1994, 13-year-old Nicholas Barclay went missing on his way home from school in Texas. Nearly four years later his family received a phone call from police with the news that Nicholas had been found in Spain. British director Bart Layton reinvents the crime documentary with cinematic re-enactments and compelling storytelling techniques to create a film about the most duplicitous behaviour imaginable. Full of dramatic twists, the film raises complex questions of just how far people will go to believe what they want to be true. The man at the dark heart of the story – con man Frederic Bourdin – is utterly captivating as he reveals to camera just how and why he managed to do the impossible.

● Join us in the Dendy Premium Lounge after the Tuesday screening for a chat about the film with Rebecca Kotz, Team Leader of the AFP’s Missing Person’s Coordination Unit and Ross Solly from 666ABC.