JFK in 2023: The Best (and Worst) Documentaries

The JFK Facts guide to the many non-fiction films about JFK's assassination

If the study of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination teaches you anything, it’s to keep in mind that famous F. Scott Fitzgerald quote that suggests one mark of intelligence is being able to hold two opposing thoughts in your mind simultaneously while still maintaining the ability to function.

After taking on the task of compiling the best (and worst) of JFK assassination documentaries, our ability to function may be seriously in question, but there’s no doubt quite a few contradictory ideas are simultaneously occupying our brain space.  

We screened dozens and dozens of films for consideration, many of them multiple times. 

To put it bluntly: There’s a lot of crap out there. Shoddy filmmaking, superficial reporting, questionable theorizing.

But there also are several documentaries that do credit to the art form while providing fresh understanding into the undeniably byzantine case.