Some of the most successful true-crime documentaries are notable for having changed the course of the investigations they document—think The Staircase or The Jinx. By altering the fates of their subjects, these documentaries raise important questions about how film can both bear witness to, and create, reality.

Silent Vigil is a character-driven, one-hour crime drama set in Northern California’s wine region that follows filmmaker Lalo Vigil as he investigates a long-buried family secret and is forced to grapple with the often conflicting desires for objectivity and success.