By John Corrado

★★★ (out of 4)

The 2023 Hot Docs Film Festival runs from April 27th to May 7th in Toronto, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here.

In her investigative documentary Cynara, director Sherien Barsoum reexamines the case of Cindy Ali, a Trinidadian immigrant in Toronto who was convicted of first degree murder in the death of her disabled daughter Cynara.

On February 19th, 2011, Cindy called 911 in distress, saying that two men had broken into her house and her daughter was not breathing. The firefighter who was the first to respond to the scene found Cindy on the floor, and the 16-year-old Cynara, who was born with cerebral palsy, on the couch with her arm twisted and a lack of vital signs. After several weeks of testimony and cooperation with police, Cindy would ultimately be charged for her daughter’s death.

Cindy alleged that two Black men dressed in black suits had barged into her home on that day looking for a mysterious package, with her only proof being a mysterious letter that she claims to have received from the robbers a few weeks later, apologizing for having had the wrong address. A jury doubted this home invasion story due to a concerning lack of evidence, and unanimously chose to convict Cindy to a life sentence instead.

Barsoum relitigates this case through a mix of family testimonies, audio recordings from the courtroom, and reenactments of the crime scene with the actors sitting still as the camera moves through to recreate evidence photos. The film offers an interesting and thorough overview of the case, but it also seems somewhat convinced of Cindy’s innocence and wrongful conviction, which does rob the film of some objectiveness. Meanwhile, the audience is still left with a lot of unanswered questions in our minds (i.e., the alleged robbers were never caught, with only one eyewitness claiming to have even seen someone who fit their description on that day, and the letter does seem to have been forged by the family).

Barsoum gets close access to Cindy’s family, including her husband and their other three daughters, who share their side of the story, as well as members of the church community who unwaveringly support Cindy and maintain her innocence. The film also follows Toronto Star reporter Jim Rankin as he goes over the details of the case, and Cindy’s lawyer James Lockyer as he tries to push for a new trial, seeing the case as a miscarriage of justice (though, when pressed by Rankin on the phone, Lockyer is not quite ready to call it a wrongful conviction).

The film does raise concerns around what evidence was presented to the court and how the case was ultimately decided. The jury’s decision hinged on the belief that Cindy must have killed her daughter because she found her to be a burden and stopped loving her, which the family vehemently denies to be true, with evidence coming from the possibly biased views of the first responders who began investigating the family.

But Cynara doesn’t necessarily make a strong enough case to fully convince us of Cindy’s innocence either, which makes it a whole lot thornier. That said, the film is still pretty effective as a meticulously crafted and mostly engaging true crime documentary that takes us through key details of the case, and leaves us with a lot to think about.

Screenings: Sunday, April 30th, 1:45 PM at Isabel Bader Theatre; Thursday, May 4th, 5:00 PM at Scotiabank Theatre 7. Tickets can be purchased here, and the film will also be streaming online across Canada from May 5th to 9th.