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outrage in Britain from the victim’s mother and from thousands of petitioners demanding that the Academy Award nod be rescinded.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
Denise Fergus and Ralph Bulger attack shortlisting of Detainment, a drama based on the police interrogation of Robert Thompson and Jon Venables
James Bulger’s parents have expressed their disgust after the film about their two-year-old son’s killers was nominated for the best live-action short film Oscar.
Detainment, written and directed by Irish film-maker Vincent Lambe, is a reconstruction of the police interrogation of Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, the 10-year-olds convicted of Bulger’s murder in 1993.
James Bulger’s parents have expressed their disgust after the film about their two-year-old son’s killers was nominated for the best live-action short film Oscar.
Detainment, written and directed by Irish film-maker Vincent Lambe, is a reconstruction of the police interrogation of Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, the 10-year-olds convicted of Bulger’s murder in 1993.
- 1/23/2019
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
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