On November 22, 1963, the United States was shaken when the 35th president was shot while riding in a motorcade through the streets of Dallas, Texas, as crowds gathered to see him.
As with any event of that scale, questions quickly followed, and many people have spent decades trying to understand exactly what happened and who was responsible.
Oswald himself was shot and killed just two days later while being transferred from the Dallas police station, which only added to public suspicion.
Over the years, many have questioned whether Oswald truly acted alone, especially due to the nature of the president’s injuries.
The autopsy raised serious doubts for some observers, particularly over how a single bullet could have caused such extensive damage, leading to theories involving multiple shots and multiple shooters.
The film was captured by Dallas air conditioner repairman Orville Nix, who recorded grainy 8mm footage from near the scene of the shooting.
The footage has not been seen publicly since 1978 and was filmed near the grassy knoll, an area that some witnesses have long believed was the source of additional gunfire.
Nix’s footage was sent to a Los Angeles company for analysis and later came under federal ownership, though officials have since claimed they no longer have the film.
Nix died in 1972, and his granddaughter later continued the legal fight started by her father to recover the footage, claiming it could be worth as much as $900 million.
Speaking to the New York Post, he said: “It’s really the only one that is known to have captured the grassy knoll area of Dealey Plaza right as the assassination occurs.”
Watnik also said the footage could strengthen the findings of a 1978 House Select Committee on Assassinations report, which concluded Kennedy “was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy.”
A federal judge has now ruled that the legal battle over the film can move forward, according to the New York Post, raising the possibility that the footage could finally be made public.
