Stanya Kahn's New Film Gathers Public Reactions to the UnitedHealthcare Killing

Los Angeles artist Stanya Kahn has made a 30-minute film built from public reactions to the killing of Brian Thompson, chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, and to the prosecution of Luigi Mangione.

The film is called Deny Defend Depose. The title comes from words scrawled on three shell casings from bullets fired in the shooting, as The Art Newspaper reports. It also refers to a strategy that the film's title ties to major healthcare providers, which aim to reduce payouts and increase profits.

Kahn works as a time-based media artist, which means her pieces unfold over time through film, video and sound rather than sitting still on a wall. Deny, Defend, Depose runs 30 minutes and 28 seconds. Its soundtrack is built from acid and jungle music, two electronic dance styles.

The film is scheduled to screen on 13 November at Participant Inc, a non-profit art space in New York. A non-profit organisation is one that reinvests its money in its mission rather than paying profits to owners.

The case itself has moved on a long timeline. Mangione's state trial in New York was first due to begin on 9 September. According to The Art Newspaper, he entered a guilty plea on 14 August in an attempt to avoid double jeopardy, the legal rule that stops a person being tried twice for the same offence. His state hearing has now been moved to 10 December, with a federal hearing to follow on 18 December.

Kahn plans to keep adding new public responses to the film as the case goes on. That means the work is designed to change along with the court calendar, not to stay fixed at the moment of its first screening.

For anyone who has followed the case, the film offers a record of how people have responded to it. For anyone who has not, the title alone is a good place to start, because each word points to a different part of the story.