101 Films International Takes Worldwide Rights To Kristin Booth & Greg Bryk-Starrer ‘Marlene’ — Toronto

Jesse Whittock
·2 min read
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EXCLUSIVE: UK firm 101 Films International has acquired worldwide sales rights (excluding North America) for Marlene, and will launch the drama feature in Toronto this week.

Directed and produced by Wendy Hill-Tout (Bloodthirsty), who co-wrote the script with Cathy Ostlere, and co-produced by Michael Peterson (Lloyd the Conqueror), Marlene is billed as “the untold harrowing story of one woman’s fight for truth and justice – to exonerate Steven Truscott who was sentenced to hang for the murder of a 12-year-old classmate.”

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Kristin Booth (Defendor), Grey Bryk (Saw V), Maxim Roy (Regenesis) and Ryan Northcott (Mystery, Alaska) star, along with Julia Sarah Stone and Dempsey Bryk, who play young Marlene and Steven, respectively.

The synopsis reads: “Marlene Truscott is Canada’s Erin Brockovich, an ordinary housewife who fought for justice and for her husband Steven Truscott to be exonerated from a crime he didn’t commit. The Truscott story became an international story when a 14-year-old schoolboy was sentenced to hang for killing and raping a 12-year-old schoolmate.

“Marlene became involved in the fight for justice at a young age, and when Steven was released on parole after 10 years, she met him, and eventually fell in love with him.  But the couple had to live a life of hiding as their children grew up, and Marlene couldn’t let the story die, determined that the truth would someday come out. Steven’s case was truly a miscarriage of justice as the police singled him out and ignored any evidence that pointed anywhere else, a story repeated to this day, as many innocents languish in jail. This is a very female story about an extraordinary woman.”

101, the UK-based sales division of Amcomri Entertainment is at the Toronto International Film Festival this week selling the international rights to the film, which Voice Pictures is producing.

Eoghan Burke, VP of International Sales at 101 Films International said: “This is a fascinating and inspirational film based on an event that shocked the world.  It is a story of a woman’s continued fight to force others to see the truth in plain sight despite their determination to avoid it.  It also brings to the fore the current plight of many around the world who are caught up in miscarriages of justice and where the death remains the ultimate penalty.”

“It was an honor to tell this remarkable story about an ordinary woman who had to hide all the while burning with the desire to have the truth come out,” added director Hill-Tout. “I hope it inspires others, and that we all find the Marlene inside us to fight for justice and truth in our everyday lives.”

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