CBC movie about fictional Robert Pickton victims to start filming in Vancouver

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      Seven years after Robert Pickton was convicted of six counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Georgina Papin, Marnie Frey, and Brenda Wolfe, CBC has confirmed it is working on a fictional movie focusing on the local serial killer's victims.

      Based on Stevie Cameron’s chilling 2010 nonfiction book On the Farm, the film has the working title Full Flood and will start shooting next week in Vancouver. The release date hasn't been set.

      "I can confirm that we will be working with Full Flood Pictures Inc. to bring Canadians a different perspective on the horrible tragedies that happened in the Pickton cases," Sally Catto, general manager of programming for CBC-TV, said in an article posted on the CBC website. "Told from the viewpoint of the women of the Downtown Eastside, the women are front and centre in this film."

      According to executive producer Rupert Harvey of Full Flood, victims portrayed in the dramatic film will be fictional—"more invented than composites".

      "What went on was horrific, but it was made worse by the lack of attention that was given to the girls, and it always seemed to me that the girls were the story and the story is about the girls," Harvey said in the CBC article.

      "It’s not a movie about Willie Pickton. It’s a story about the girls living and working in the Downtown Eastside who have everyday lives just like you and me … They were completely marginalized and ignored until so many of them died."

      The film's main character is Nikki Taylor, a “quick-witted and spirited” sex worker who tells local cop Sinead McLeod about the disappearances of women in the Downtown Eastside.

      CBC has contacted the families of the victims to tell them about the movie.

      Relatives of murdered and missing women led the annual women's memorial march in the Downtown Eastside on February 14.

      Comments

      3 Comments

      Barry William Teske

      Feb 27, 2015 at 12:55pm

      Am I reading this right?
      Fictional Robert Pickton victims?
      Is this a topic that is deserving of a fictional accounting?
      I get the horrible feeling the facts are still buried somewhere...

      How far do we have to fall to see where we left are humanity?

      J.M.T.

      Feb 27, 2015 at 2:15pm

      Why does the CBC get to do this? The CBC is the worst. We'll end up with Relic from the Beachcombers playing Willie.

      J.M.T.

      Feb 27, 2015 at 2:16pm

      Doh! I mean Robert!