Winner 2015

The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst

HBO Documentary Films in association with Good Things Acquisition Company

Director Andrew Jarecki’s stylish, detailed examination of suspicions that new york real-estate scion Robert Durst was connected to three unsolved deaths would have been notable if all he had done was get durst to talk on camera for the first time. But this HBO docu-series ultimately revealed footage in which Durst seemed to admit to murder during an unguarded moment in a bath-room, airing a day after police arrested him on first-degree murder charges. By offering a possible solution straight from the mouth of the suspect himself, uncovered after 20 hours of interviews conducted over years, the series makes you wonder if they didn’t just wear Durst down in the end. The Jinx helped birth a new type of true-crime television, offering a close-up, multi-episode look at one of TV’s most unusual suspects at the center of crimes decades old. For taking viewers on a riveting journey into the mind of a long-suspected multiple murderer, The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst wins a Peabody Award.

PRIMARY PRODUCTION CREDITS

Director: Andrew Jarecki. Producers: Marc Smerling, Andrew Jarecki. Executive Producer: Jason Blum. Co-Executive Producer and Editor: Zac Stuart-Pontier. Director of Photography: Marc Smerling.