"An Unreliable Witness" Synopsis

This independent documentary follows British born but now New York based journalist David Tereshchuk back to Derry, Northern Ireland, to testify before the “Bloody Sunday Inquiry”. On January 30th, 1972 David was covering the Catholic civil rights march through Derry when soldiers of the British army’s parachute regiment opened fire on the crowd, killing 13 and wounding several others. An inquiry launched shortly after the killings was headed by then Lord Chief Justice, Lord Widgery. Widgery exonerated the soldiers, and claimed that several of the civilians killed were probably handling some sort of weapon on that day.

In 1998 Prime Minister Tony Blair declared that the Widgery Tribunal, did not have all the evidence needed to make a fair conclusion and ordered a re-investigation. All witnesses to the event have been summoned to Derry to testify – including David - now a journalist for the United Nations. David is so unsure of his memory of events of that day that an article he wrote about his impending trip was entitled “An Unreliable Witness”.

The film documents the trouble David has recalling the details of the massacre 30 years later, while showing how much pressure is placed on a journalist to provide an accurate, objective account of that day. David walks the streets he hasn’t walked since he was caught in the gunfire on Bloody Sunday, and relives the compelling moments when his own army was firing at him and the crowd around him.

David finally walks through the doors of the inquiry and re-tells his story that is now 30 years old – that he saw British soldiers open fire, unprovoked, on innocent British citizens. The filmmakers were not allowed to cover David’s actual testimony, as the British government placed a ban on all coverage of the Inquiry’s proceedings. The film does capture the reactions of two family members and two journalists to David’s testimony.

The documentary shows how the families of the victims have never given up on their goal - justice to a great human rights violation - and how people like David are willing to answer the call and tell their story. With the inquiry questioning hundreds of witnesses, finding the truth has been compared to solving a large jigsaw puzzle. Though there may be thousands of small pieces - like David’s testimony – every single piece counts and is needed to see the full picture.