The movie also won best original screenplay.

"This film gave a voice to survivors, and this Oscar amplifies that voice, which we hope will become a choir that will resonate all the way to the Vatican," said producer Michael Sugar.

"Pope Francis: it's time to protect the children and restore the faith," added Sugar.

Matt Carroll, one of the reporters of The Boston Globe, expressed hope that the movie will continue "to help victims for a long time to come."

"Spotlight" had been praised as the most influential and critically acclaimed movie about journalism since "All The President's Men" in 1976.

The movie dramatized the 2001-2002 The Boston Globe investigation that spurred some abuse survivors to come forward for the first time.

In 2001, Marty Baron, editor The Boston Globe, assigned a team of journalists to investigate allegations against John Geoghan, an unfrocked priest accused of molesting more than 80 boys.

Led by editor Walter "Robby" Robinson, reporters Michael Rezendes, Matt Carroll, and Sacha Pfeiffer interviewed victims and tried to unseal sensitive documents.

The reporters made it their mission to provide proof of a cover-up of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.

In October 2015, Vatican Radio praised "Spotlight" for demonstrating "the inexhaustible and uncontainable force of the truth."

Luca Pellegrini, an art and culture commentator for Vatican Radio, wrote that the movie director "never gives in to personal interpretation or falls into the trap of scandal." He also hailed the "extraordinary performances" by actors Mark Ruffalo and Michael Keaton.

Pellegrini wrote that the Catholic Church should not be wary of a film about its past failures.

Sources

CNN
Crux
The Hollywood Reporter
The Guardian
Reuters
Image: AP/NPR

The first trailer for the drama "Spotlight", directed and co-written by Tom McCarthy, has been released.

The movie, distributed by Open Road Films, tells the true story behind the Boston Globe's investigation into child abuse in the Catholic Church.

The group of journalists won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2003 after uncovering the Boston archdiocese's widespread cover-up of sexual abuse.

"West Wing" scribe Josh Singer co-wrote the film, which has already generated plenty of awards buzz.

The Globe's reporting eventually led to the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law, who had hidden years of abuse by other priests, and yielded other revelations of molestation and cover-ups around the world.

Michael Keaton stars alongside Rachel McAdams, John Slattery, Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber and Stanley Tucci.

Billy Crudup plays a church representative trying to shut the investigation down.

"We've got two stories here," says Keaton as Walter "Robby" Robinson, the editor of the Globe's Spotlight investigations team.

"A story about degenerate clergy and a story about a bunch of lawyers turning child abuse into a cottage industry. Which story do you want us to write? Because we're writing one of them."

"Spotlight" will premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September, and will also screen at the Toronto Film Festival.

It will be released in cinemas in the US in November.

Sources

• Variety
• The Guardian
• Image: The Guardian

Even today, there's a lingering stigma about women who choose to place their children for adoption. Unnatural, people say, and jump to conclusions about the woman's lifestyle, character and state of mind.

If times have changed, it's only in that the stigma used to attach unilaterally to unwed mothers. And that stigma was strong enough to keep Philomena Lee silent for 50 years.

The world now knows about Philomena Lee. In 2009, journalist Martin Sixsmith published a book about the son whom she bore in an Irish convent, and whom the nuns tore from her when he was 3 years old and sent off to America with a new set of adoptive parents.

In 2013, the book became the basis for a film starring Judi Dench, who has been nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for playing the role of Philomena — more or less. Continue reading.

Source: Washington Post

Image: Vatican Insider