Zebra 3
08-04-2005, 03:22 PM
(Studio Briefing) The Montreal Film Festival has caved into pressure from sponsors who had threatened to withdraw their funding if it went ahead with plans to premiere the movie Karla, a film about serial killer Karla Homolka, starring Laura Prepon (That '70s Show) in the title role. Members of the families of Homolka's victims had mounted a campaign to prevent the film from being shown. Today's (Thursday) Globe & Mail published the contents of an email from Duncan Dee, a senior vice president of Air Canada, which said, "Air Canada informed the [Montreal World Film Festival] last week that it is cancelling its sponsorship of the event as a result of the festival's decision to screen Karla." The newspaper quoted a source close to festival president Serge Losique as saying, "Half a dozen sponsors were going to pull their money." Earlier Losique had defended the film, noting that numerous "notorious criminals" from Hitler to the Boston Strangler had been the subject of films. Stephen Williams, author of two books that served as the basis for the film's screenplay, told the Globe & Mail: "This is appalling. It's outrageous. [Mr. Losique] went out on a limb and announced this with fanfare but he doesn't have the courage of his convictions."