‘The Hit’: New investigative doc

Poster design by Haley Murphy. Photo of Tony Stewart courtesy Walter Arce/ActionSports.

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“The Hit,” a feature-length investigative documentary created by IRW’s Chris Halsne, continues to gain attention on the film-festival circuit.  

The documentary premiered at the Landmark E Street Theater in March after being awarded top film in the Best of Metro D.C. category. Judges also named the documentary as an official selection of the Northern Virginia Film and Music Festival (NOVA) and the New Jersey Documentary Film Festival. The next public showing of the film is scheduled for May 14 in Sparta, New Jersey.

Halsne and a small team of award-winning journalists spent three years reinvestigating a fatal dirt track racing accident involving NASCAR legend Tony Stewart.

The film’s producers reviewed thousands of never-before-released public records that included video-recorded statements from Stewart and other witnesses. The documentary crew also used advanced forensic engineering techniques to determine whether Stewart accelerated his car and fishtailed it toward a defenseless man standing on the track in the moments leading up to the deadly crash.

The trailer for the movie can be seen here. Halsne is on faculty as an Investigative Broadcaster-in-Residence at American University.