29 February 2016
We’re very excited to wake up this morning to the news that Spotlight has won the 2016 Oscar for Best Picture! Huge congratulations to all the cast and crew – and, of course, to the Investigative Staff of the Boston Globe, who wrote the book tha inspired the film.
“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 onstage, surrounded by Spotlight‘s cast and creatives. “Pope Francis, it is time to protect the children and restore the faith.”
Betrayal: Crisis in the Catholic Church tells the story of the investigation into widespread child abuse in Boston which inspired the major new film Spotlight (released 29th January 2016), up for 6 Oscars. The book, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, is one of the most significant works of investigative journalism since Woodward and Bernstein’s reporting on Watergate.
Watch the trailer below:
On 31 January 2002, the Boston Globe published a report that sent shockwaves around the world. Their findings, based on a six-month campaign by the ‘Spotlight’ investigative team, showed that hundreds of children in Boston had been abused by Catholic priests, and that this horrific pattern of behaviour had been known – and ignored – by the Catholic Church. Instead of protecting the community it was meant to serve, the Church exploited its powerful influence to protect itself from scandal – and innocent children paid the price.
Read the original letter that helped expose the scandal
This is the story from beginning to end: the predatory men who exploited the vulnerable, the cabal of senior Church officials who covered up their crimes, the ‘hush money’ used to buy the victims’ silence, the survivors who found the strength to tell their story, and the Catholics across the world who were left shocked, angry, and betrayed. This is the story, too, of how they took power back, confronted their Church and called for sweeping change. Betrayal is brilliant, hard-hitting but very readable American investigative journalism at its best.
The film, starring Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton and Rachel McAdams, is up for 6 Oscars – best film, best director, best supporting actor, best supporting actress, best film editing and best original screenplay.