Like a lot of children, the 8-year-old son of FRONTLINE Executive Producer Raney Aronson-Rath was captivated by Minecraft, the immersive game that allows people to build and explore online with others.

A few years ago, he had a question for his mother. “Why isn’t FRONTLINE more like Minecraft?” His query rocked her thinking. What would it take to infuse FRONTLINE’s investigative reporting with the action-adventure, discovery-quest energy of Minecraft?

“In asking me that question, my son was showing me the path forward,” said Aronson-Rath during a recent interview with the MIT Open Documentary Lab, a collaborative center in which she previously participated.

“FRONTLINE will always be about linear filmmaking, but we can do so much more,” says Aronson-Rath. “We can reach younger generations in a way that feels authentic to them.”

FRONTLINE did just that with Inheritance and The Last Generation, which won an Emmy Award in the “New Approaches: Documentary” category and was one of several programs cited when FRONTLINE won a Gold Baton, the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards’ highest honor.

When FRONTLINE announced that it will launch one of its most ambitious interactive projects ever — Un(re)solved — we wanted to know more.

“Un(re)solved will tell the story of lives cut short during the civil rights era,” said Aronson-Rath. “Most were Black, many were victims of a campaign of racist terror unleashed across the United States for decades. Drawing on more than two years of reporting, thousands of documents, and dozens of first-hand interviews with family members, journalists, Justice Department officials and current and former FBI agents, we examine the federal government’s effort to grapple with America’s legacy of racist killings.”

The investigation includes a web-based interactive experience, podcast mini-series, augmented-reality installation that can tour schools, libraries and museums, broadcast documentary, companion educational curriculum and events. The project made its world debut at the Tribeca Festival, which began June 9, and is part of the festival’s special Juneteenth programming.

Dawn Porter, an independent documentary filmmaker and creative lead for Un(re)solved, says she hopes the installation, which is infused with symbolism, has a profound impact on audiences.

“I hope it is a physical reminder that these names are not lost, that this is not buried history,” she said. “If we don’t attempt to give respect and life to the victims, then their suffering is for nothing, and we do not want to let that happen.”

The project tracks the passage of the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act in 2008, exploring why, despite the investment of millions of dollars, there has not been a single new federal charge filed in any of the cases since the law passed.

“Set against the backdrop of today’s protests over policing, justice and systemic racism in the U.S., the series will explore whether America’s inability to confront its own past has kept it from moving forward,” she says.

“Since taking over FRONTLINE, I have been trying to expand what documentary journalism can be and how people can engage with it,” says Aronson-Rath about the innovative project.

On Friday, June 11, FRONTLINE will launch a companion podcast hosted by reporter James Edwards that asks, what prompted the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate over 150 unsolved civil rights era killings? And what does justice look like for the families of the victims?

Listen to the trailer here. Learn more about the project here.