The Perfect Story

The Perfect Story is a 2022 Canadian documentary film directed by Michelle Shephard. The film revisits Shephard's 2010 news story about Ismael Abdulle, a young Somali man who had his hand and foot amputated by Al-Shabaab militants. Her initial reportage sparked a campaign to get him transported to another country as a refugee. However, the documentary explores the ethical dilemmas Shephard faced when Abdulle later admitted he had lied about key details of the incident, revealing he was guilty of attempted theft as Al-Shabaab had claimed.

The film premiered at the 2022 Calgary International Film Festival, where it won the DGC Canadian Documentary Award. It was also screened at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema in Toronto as the opening film of the annual Doc Soup fall screening series, and had its television premiere on TVO on October 18.

The film received received two nominations at the 11th Canadian Screen Awards in 2023, for Best Documentary Program and Best Original Music in a Documentary (Ohad Benchetrit, Justin Small).