Daily Times

The parents of British toddler James Bulger on Thursday urged director Vincent Lambe to withdraw his film about the 1993 murder of their son by schoolboys from Oscars consideration.

In a case that shocked the country, Jon Venables and his friend Robert Thompson, who were both aged 10 at the time, abducted Bulger, 2, from a shopping centre in Liverpool, northern England. The little boy’s mutilated body was found two days later on a nearby railway line.

Parents Denise Fergus and Ralph Bulger criticised the decision to shortlist ‘Detainment’, a short film based on police interviews with their son’s killers, for an Oscar and want it pulled from public distribution.

The director defended the film earlier this month, saying that it was ‘in no way sympathetic to the killers’ although he was ‘sorry’ that he had not let Fergus know the film was being made

“Seeing the images of actors playing James, it’s just horrendous,” said mother Fergus.

“I just can’t get that image out of my head of him being led away. It’s a true story but he’s altered stuff. A lot of stuff. I think it shouldn’t get the Oscar. I think the families of victims should be contacted before it goes ahead.”

Ralph Bulger called on Irish director Lambe to withdraw the film from Oscars consideration.

“We’re actually saying to Vincent Lambe now, because he’s put himself forward for the Oscar, withdraw that yourself and remove your film from the public domain.”

The director defended the film earlier this month, saying in a statement that it was “in no way sympathetic to the killers”, although he was “sorry” that he had not let Fergus know the film was being made.

Venables, who served eight years in prison for the torture and murder of the toddler, admitted last year having more than a thousand indecent images of children. The Academy announced on Tuesday that the film had been shortlisted in the Best Live Action Short Film category.

A petition demanding the film be banned and taken off the shortlist had gathered almost 115,000 signatures, as of Thursday afternoon.

Published in Daily Times, January 25^th 2019.