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"Detainment," a 30-minute film about the death
of James Bulger, caused a furor in Britain after it was
nominated for an Oscar on Tuesday in the short film category. An
online petition asking for the film to be withdrawn from Oscar
contention has attracted more than 130,000 signatures.
The James Bulger case, in which two 10-year-old boys lured
Bulger from a northern English shopping mall and tortured him to
death, is one of Britain's most notorious criminal cases.
"Detainment," directed by Vincent Lamb, uses transcripts of
police interviews, official records and security camera footage
of the boys luring Bulger away from the mall. Actors play the
parts of the two convicted boys.
Bulger's mother, Denise Fergus, said on Twitter that the film
had made her family relive the event all over again. Other
family members said the film humanized the two young killers.
Lambe said in a statement that the film "was never intended to
bring any further anguish to the family of James Bulger and we
never intended any disrespect by not consulting them.
"While it is a painfully difficult case to understand, I believe
we have a responsibility to try and make sense of what
happened," he added.
Lambe said there was "no depiction of the murder or graphic
details of any kind" in the film.
"Detainment" won several awards at film festivals in Europe in
2018 but has no theatrical release date.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, whose members
choose the Oscar nominees, did not return a request for comment
on Thursday. The Oscar winners will be announced at a ceremony
in Hollywood on Feb. 24.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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