Olympic hero-turned-convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius film in works

PanARMENIAN.Net - Content Media has picked up the international sales rights to an Oscar Pistorius documentary feature, which will be introduced to distributors in Cannes next week. The film, titled “Pistorius,” follows the rise and fall of the inspiring, Olympic hero turned convicted murderer, Variety said.

Vaughan Sivell (“Mr. Calzaghe”) is directing the movie, which is in production, and is producing with Sean Richard for Western Edge Pictures, and the Gennaker Group. “Pistorius” is described as “Making a Murderer” meets “Senna” — “a riveting true-crime story about a beloved sports icon.”

At the 2012 Olympics, South Africa’s Oscar Pistorius, also known as “The Blade Runner,” made history by becoming the first double-amputee sprinter to compete in the Olympics. He was one of the world’s most successful sportmen, and an inspiration to millions.

Not even a year later, on Valentine’s Day in February 2013, Pistorius was arrested and charged for the murder of his girlfriend, South African model Reeva Steenkamp.

The trial of Pistorius placed South Africa and its problems under the media spotlight. The talismanic Olympian and Mandela’s Rainbow Nation are almost the same age, having both been born with so many challenges, and achieved so much against the odds. But now Pistorius is a convicted murderer, in a country that is riven with segregation, violent crime, and corruption. “The film will seek to discover whether the image we have of them both is the truth,” Content said.

Content’s Carmichael said: “Oscar Pistorius captured and then broke our hearts. And there’s a danger South Africa will do the same. Vaughan has struck a controversial nerve with his timely investigation of the man, the trial and country behind one of the most complex and compelling stories of our times.”