As Netflix launches a series on the case of Madeleine McCann, how can we balance viewers’ appetites for the fast-growing genre against concern for victims?
Who is interested in true crime? “One imagines a furtive audience of sad saps and sadists, trench-coated lurkers and wan shut-ins.” So wrote Lorna Scott Fox a decade ago in an article for The Nation, which is quoted in Covering Darkness, Neil Root’s just-published exploration of the genre. They were both writing about authors of true crime books but the same could be asked of audiences for a new wave of television and film documentaries dealing with some of our grimmest cases.
The question is prompted by the launch of Netflix’s eight-part series, The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann. It was preceded in the public eye by the Oscar-nominated short documentary, Detainment, about the two boys convicted of the murder of James Bulger, and...
Who is interested in true crime? “One imagines a furtive audience of sad saps and sadists, trench-coated lurkers and wan shut-ins.” So wrote Lorna Scott Fox a decade ago in an article for The Nation, which is quoted in Covering Darkness, Neil Root’s just-published exploration of the genre. They were both writing about authors of true crime books but the same could be asked of audiences for a new wave of television and film documentaries dealing with some of our grimmest cases.
The question is prompted by the launch of Netflix’s eight-part series, The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann. It was preceded in the public eye by the Oscar-nominated short documentary, Detainment, about the two boys convicted of the murder of James Bulger, and...
- 3/17/2019
- by Duncan Campbell
- The Guardian - Film News
New Netflix documentary series “The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann,” about a missing girl whose case has sparked fevered speculation in Britain for more than a decade, is set to drop on the streaming platform Friday. The eight-part series is controversial and anticipated in equal measure, with the girl’s family suggesting it could hinder the long-running police investigation and a tabloid saying there could be explosive new revelations.
Three-year-old British toddler Madeleine McCann went missing from the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz while on vacation with her parents in 2007. Her disappearance sparked a huge investigation involving Portuguese police and Scotland Yard, which is still pursuing leads. It remains one of the highest-profile cases in modern U.K. crime history and the subject of intense media scrutiny, especially from Britain’s sensationalist tabloids.
The Netflix series promises new interviews with people connected to the case, with input from more than 40 contributors in all.
Three-year-old British toddler Madeleine McCann went missing from the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz while on vacation with her parents in 2007. Her disappearance sparked a huge investigation involving Portuguese police and Scotland Yard, which is still pursuing leads. It remains one of the highest-profile cases in modern U.K. crime history and the subject of intense media scrutiny, especially from Britain’s sensationalist tabloids.
The Netflix series promises new interviews with people connected to the case, with input from more than 40 contributors in all.
- 3/14/2019
- by Stewart Clarke
- Variety Film + TV
The shorts and animation branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences chose its final five from 140 qualifying films. In order to qualify for Oscar contention, shorts have to win an award at an eligible film festival. Last year’s winner, for example, Chris Overton and Rachel Shenton’s “The Silent Child,” debuted at the Rhode Island International Film Festival before going on to win the Academy Award.
Many Academy voters don’t catch up with these shorts from emerging filmmakers around the world until they’re nominated. This year’s five contenders hail from four countries, and deal with a disturbing range of dark subjects, often involving children in jeopardy.
Irish director Vincent Lambe’s controversial, true-life drama, “Detainment,” focuses on the shocking 1993 Liverpool murder of a toddler by two 10-year-old boys, who are interrogated by skeptical police.
Jérémy Comte’s 16-minute Sundance winner, “Fauve,” also focuses...
Many Academy voters don’t catch up with these shorts from emerging filmmakers around the world until they’re nominated. This year’s five contenders hail from four countries, and deal with a disturbing range of dark subjects, often involving children in jeopardy.
Irish director Vincent Lambe’s controversial, true-life drama, “Detainment,” focuses on the shocking 1993 Liverpool murder of a toddler by two 10-year-old boys, who are interrogated by skeptical police.
Jérémy Comte’s 16-minute Sundance winner, “Fauve,” also focuses...
- 2/13/2019
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Chicago – There are four films among the five Oscar-nominated Live Action Shorts for 2019 that have childhood in their theme, and they all are telling about situations in the more in-your-face dark circumstances of life today. The Landmark Century Centre Cinema in Chicago are currently showing all the shorts in one program. Click here for more information.
Rating: 5.0/5.0
The only film that has a bit of light in it is “Marguerite’ (Canada) which deals with a relationship between a caregiver and her elder woman patient, who reveals a secret. The other four films – “Detainment” (Ireland/Britain), “Fauve” (Canada), “Madre” (Spain) and “Skin” (USA) – all have children as major characters in our world where too much is happening, both to them and the adults around them. In the needle-in-the-haystack of short films that compete for awards from all around the world, it is somewhat shocking that 80% spotlight childhood trauma.
“Detainment” is a...
Rating: 5.0/5.0
The only film that has a bit of light in it is “Marguerite’ (Canada) which deals with a relationship between a caregiver and her elder woman patient, who reveals a secret. The other four films – “Detainment” (Ireland/Britain), “Fauve” (Canada), “Madre” (Spain) and “Skin” (USA) – all have children as major characters in our world where too much is happening, both to them and the adults around them. In the needle-in-the-haystack of short films that compete for awards from all around the world, it is somewhat shocking that 80% spotlight childhood trauma.
“Detainment” is a...
- 2/12/2019
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
The director of Oscar-nominated short film “Detainment,” about the notorious murder of a British toddler, has defended his film and said he will not withdraw it from the Oscars race, despite the demands of the boy’s family and tens of thousands of petitioners.
Instead of unalloyed elation over the Academy’s recognition of his film, Irish director Vincent Lambe has found himself at the center of a media firestorm in the U.K. The family of the murdered 2-year-old, James Bulger, has expressed its anguish over “Detainment,” and a petition demanding that it be pulled from Oscar contention has now been signed by 130,000 people.
“I understand the film at the moment is causing upset to the family and that’s probably the hardest thing for me to deal with now because I have so much sympathy for [them],” Lambe told Variety in an interview. “But I think it’s an important film,...
Instead of unalloyed elation over the Academy’s recognition of his film, Irish director Vincent Lambe has found himself at the center of a media firestorm in the U.K. The family of the murdered 2-year-old, James Bulger, has expressed its anguish over “Detainment,” and a petition demanding that it be pulled from Oscar contention has now been signed by 130,000 people.
“I understand the film at the moment is causing upset to the family and that’s probably the hardest thing for me to deal with now because I have so much sympathy for [them],” Lambe told Variety in an interview. “But I think it’s an important film,...
- 1/24/2019
- by Stewart Clarke
- Variety Film + TV
Oscar-nominated short film “Detainment,” about a notorious real-life child abduction and murder, has sparked outrage in Britain from the victim’s mother and from thousands of petitioners demanding that the Academy Award nod be rescinded.
The 30-minute film centers on the 1993 killing of 2-year-old James Bulger, one of the most shocking criminal cases in modern British history. Two 10-year-old boys lured the toddler from a shopping center near Liverpool, then tortured and killed him. The film relies on transcripts of interviews with the killers to re-enact the events.
Denise Fergus, James’ mother, and others protest what they see as a gratuitous depiction of a horrific incident and a too-sympathetic portrait of the killers. They also note that the director, Vincent Lambe, made no effort to speak to Fergus or James’ father while making “Detainment.”
“I cannot express how disgusted and upset I am that this so-called film has been made...
The 30-minute film centers on the 1993 killing of 2-year-old James Bulger, one of the most shocking criminal cases in modern British history. Two 10-year-old boys lured the toddler from a shopping center near Liverpool, then tortured and killed him. The film relies on transcripts of interviews with the killers to re-enact the events.
Denise Fergus, James’ mother, and others protest what they see as a gratuitous depiction of a horrific incident and a too-sympathetic portrait of the killers. They also note that the director, Vincent Lambe, made no effort to speak to Fergus or James’ father while making “Detainment.”
“I cannot express how disgusted and upset I am that this so-called film has been made...
- 1/23/2019
- by Variety Staff
- Variety Film + TV
Denise Fergus, mother of the late James Bulger, is speaking out against the short film “Detainment,” after it received an Oscar nomination for Best Live Action Short Film. Directed by Vincent Lambe, “Detainment” is a 30-minute short film about the police interrogations of Bulger’s killers, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson. The narrative film uses real transcripts and interview tapes from the interrogations. Venables and Thompson were 10 years old when they murdered two-year-old Bulger.
“I cannot express how disgusted and upset I am at this so-called film that has been made and now nominated for an Oscar,” Fergus said on Twitter. “It’s one thing making a film like this without contacting or getting permission from James’s family but another to have a child reenact the final hours of James’s life before he was brutally murdered and making myself and my family have to relive this all over again!
“I cannot express how disgusted and upset I am at this so-called film that has been made and now nominated for an Oscar,” Fergus said on Twitter. “It’s one thing making a film like this without contacting or getting permission from James’s family but another to have a child reenact the final hours of James’s life before he was brutally murdered and making myself and my family have to relive this all over again!
- 1/23/2019
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
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