MARLENE

By Wendy HILL-TOUT

PETERSON POLARIS CORP - as PROD

Drama - Completed 2020

"Marlene" is about an ordinary housewife who fought for her husband, Stephen Truscott, to be exonerated from a crime he did not commit. The film thematically is about the importance of truth and how you cannot have justice without truth. Truth matters.

Festivals
& Awards

Whistler Film Festival 2020
Runner-Up Audience Award
Calgary International Film Festival 2020
Hamilton Film Festival 2020
Best Cinematography
Kingston Canadian Film Festival 2021
Victoria Film Festival 2021
Forest City Film Festival 2021
Best Feature Film
AMPIA 2021
Best Editor (Scripted Over 30 Minutes)
AMPIA 2021
Best Production Designer / Art Director
    • Year of production
    • 2020
    • Genres
    • Drama
    • Countries
    • CANADA
    • Languages
    • ENGLISH-CANADA
    • Budget
    • N/A
    • Duration
    • 105 mn
    • Director(s)
    • Wendy HILL-TOUT
    • Writer(s)
    • Wendy HILL-TOUT, Cathy OSTLERE
    • Producer(s)
    • Wendy HILL-TOUT (Voice Pictures Inc.), Michael PETERSON (Peterson Polaris Corp)
    • Synopsis
    • Marlene Truscott is Canada’s Erin Brockovich, an ordinary housewife who fought for justice and for her husband Steven Truscott to be exonerated from a crime he did not commit. The Truscott story is one of Canada’s most famous stories, and became an international story when it created an uproar when a 14 year old schoolboy was sentenced to hang for killing and raping a 12 year schoolmate. Marlene became involved in the fight for justice at a young age, and when Steven was released on parole after 10 years, she met him and eventually fell in love with him. But the couple had to live a life of hiding as their children grew up, and Marlene couldn’t let the story die, determined that the truth would some day come out. Steven’s case was largely responsible for the abolition of capital punishment in Canada. Steven’s case was truly a miscarriage of justice, as the police fingered Steven and ignored any evidence that pointed anywhere else, a story repeated to this day, as many innocents languish in jail. A very female story about an extraordinary woman, written and directed by women, Marlene finally takes a place in history with this untold story.