Nothing like Shamed @Hot Docs 2025

Filmmakers Matt Gallagher and Cornelia Principe are no strangers to tackling heavy and compelling subjects when it comes to their documentaries. When we spoke to them about their film Prey at Hot Docs in 2019, FERNTV knew that this was the road that they were going to step on the gas on as they were crafting their art. The investigative journalism of hard-to-stomach subjects in documentary form has made them masters now after putting together their latest Shamed premiering this year at Hot Docs.

The TVO documentary follows self-ordained vigilante Jason Nassr, who creates his show, called Creeper Hunter TV, on the internet. The premise is Nassr posing as a thirteen-year-old girl on dating websites to lure pedophiles. Once he establishes a rapport with them, he then sets up a date where he will meet them. Thinking that they are meeting a thirteen-year-old, Nassr shows up and films this potential child predator and harasses this man. He exposes this man on Creeper Hunter TV and pushes the envelope even further by making it known that he is going to notify his family and the police.

Some of you may say that this is great because justice is being served. But once Nassr exposes some of these men on his platform, they take their own lives, thinking that they would never see the end of it in their waking life. Those who are deceased are called John Does in the film to maintain privacy and protect those who are innocent. Unfortunately, this is where Nassr’s actions become questionable because of how he consistently harasses these men literally to their deaths.

The families of the victims of Creeper Hunter TV are interviewed throughout the film, and it is hard for them to grasp that someone would do this to a member of their family. Members of the police force, as well as other journalists, have also come forth and given their perspective on this delusional and narcissistic man who thinks that two wrongs make a right.

Shame is the best film that both Matt Gallagher and Cornelia Principe have made to date. Not only because they brought their stealth investigative journalism to the forefront, but it also evokes the emotion and empathy of the audience. You would think from the outset of the film that you would side with Jason Nassr, but many of you will not choose a side at all. But you will feel a deep level of empathy that even Nassr lacked for the John Does who committed suicide and had to leave their families behind. And some of those families are still seeking the justice they deserve.

What we realized here on FERNTV was the dangers of giving someone like Nassr so much power with the technology he was using. Creeper Hunter TV would not have existed maybe more than a decade ago but questionable platforms such as this can always rise any day today. In a world where likes and followers are king, we can see Nassr with every potential childhood predator he caught, thinking he was doing the world a whole lot of good. But he wasn’t because he became a monster himself who had no empathy for their deaths. Which makes you question whether or not technology is making us less human? Only time will tell.