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Associated Press

If the most famous film showing the killing of John Kennedy in Dallas 52 years ago is worth US$16 million, then surely the second-most-famous film must be worth US$10 million.
At least, that’s according to a new federal lawsuit filed by the granddaughter of the late Orville Nix, a government engineer who filmed the shooting of the president on November 22, 1963. Gayle Nix Jackson’s lawsuit, filed Saturday in federal court, demands the US government return the original film or write her a cheque for that estimable fortune.
WATCH: The Orville Nix film of JFK's assassination

The film’s not exactly lost: YouTube is filled with countless iterations of what’s known as “The Orville Nix Film,” taken with a Keystone K-810 camera.
It has a cameo in Oliver Stone’s JFK. And a high-quality first-generation duplicate of the movie sits in the archives of the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, which years ago posted it to the website accompanied by a lengthy history of the home movie penned by the late Gary Mack.
In fact, Nix’s family actually turned it over to the museum in 2000 after retrieving it from the FBI’s files in the early 1990s
But Jackson, Nix’s granddaughter and author of 2014’s Orville Nix: The Missing JFK Assassination Film, wants the long-lost original — last believed to be in the possession of the House Select Committee on Assassinations in the late 1970s. Which is why Jackson has now added a federal lawsuit to the pile of Kennedy conspiracy literature.

“This action seeks the return of the original Nix film that would provide an opportunity for researchers and others to examine the JFK assassination and grassy knoll area to confirm the Warren Commission or HSCA findings.”
Jackson is suing the US government and the National Archives and Records Administration to retrieve the film. And, she says, if the NARA can’t find it, she wants no less than US$10 million.
The suit reads: “although copies were made, the US Government had the original Nix film in its possession on at least several occasions, from the time it was handed over to the FBI in December 1963; then used by the Warren Commission for its investigation an report; and again before the House Select Committee on Assassinations, headed by G. Robert Blakey, that had last possession of it in 1978.”
“According to the Warren Commission, the Nix film is nearly as important as the Zapruder film yet the public is mainly unaware of its significance.”

The suit says that if the Zapruder film is worth US$16 million, per an appraisal made in 1999, then her granddad’s is worth at least US$10 million.
Farris Rookstool III, a former FBI analyst-turned-JFK expert, helped retrieve the FBI duplicate on the family’s behalf more than 20 years ago. He says he considers Jackson a friend. But he’s surprised by the lawsuit, because the Nix family already has that “pristine first-generation copy.”
That version of the film, says Rookstool, has been studied countless times and doesn’t reveal a gunman on the Grassy Knoll.
“We don’t know where the original is,” says Rookstool, who has speculated it was either accidentally thrown out or wound up in the hands of a collector. “It would be nice from an archival standpoint, but the original was analysed by scientists and the panel for the House Select Committee on Assassination. They keep saying, well, ‘We want to try again with new technology,’ but that could be done on the first-generation copy at the museum, which has a very clean chain of custody.
“Meanwhile, there have been books written about it, blogs written about it, and it saddens me this was the route she chose. I don’t understand it.”
Jackson has long maintained that the version of the film in the family’s possession isn’t the same one Nix took on November 22, 1963. The suit hints at conspiracy and malfeasance: “Whatever happened on November 22, 1962 (sic) and those involved, is only magnified by the disappearance, destruction or concealment of the Nix film after being in the possession of the HSCA and was the last known possessor.”
Athan Tsimpedes, the D.C. attorney representing Jackson, says the suit was filed now because his client only recently had it confirmed that the government lost the film. And while the Nix film hasn’t been appraised — yet — Tsimpedes says for all he knows at this point, it might be more valuable than the Zapruder film. He believes the US$10 million figure is completely reasonable — but, he maintains, “it’s not about the money.”
“There has been a tortured history of trying to find out what happened to it,” he says. “They just want the film back. It might have more value than the Zapruder film. It has historic significance, it has value. It’s not about copyrights. It’s about having it back.”


JFK film mystery: Lost original footage of Kennedy assassination sparks US$10m lawsuit

Jacqueline Kennedy is seen clambering over the back of the presidential limousine seconds after a bullet tore open her husband's head, in this image captured by Orville Nix. Photo: Orville Nix/YouTube

The Kennedys pass close by Orville Nix in this image taken from his famous film. Photo: Orville Nix/YouTube

This image shows the Kennedys leaning in towards each other after the US president was hit by a bullet. Another bullet struck Kennedy in the head moments later. In the background is the famous "grassy knoll", a feature of many JFK conspiracy theories. Photo: Orville Nix/YouTube

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