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Documentary about Sudbury Survivor of Clerical Sexual Abuse Wins Award

By Katie Jacobs
Sudbury Star
May 7, 2019

https://www.dailyheraldtribune.com/news/local-news/documentary-about-sudbury-survivor-of-clerical-sexual-abuse-wins-award/wcm/d2362f20-9003-4083-9b3e-2af93e8d37ae

A still image from Prey - a new documentary by Windsor-born filmmaker Matt Gallagher, spotlighting the survivors of pedophile priest William Hodgson Marshall. Prey premieres at Hot Docs on April 26, 2019. (Handout / Windsor Star) COURTESY OF BORDER CITY PICTURES / WINDSOR STAR

A Windsor-based documentary about a survivor’s personal and legal journey exposing his abuse by a Catholic priest received two awards last weekend.

The film Prey focuses on Rod MacLeod — a survivor from sexual abuse by Rev. William Hodgson Marshall — and his quest for justice as he and his lawyer Rob Talach took on the Catholic church in court.

MacLeod was a student at St. Charles College when Marshall, who was teaching there at the time, abused him.

The documentary is a TVO production made by Windsor-born Matt Gallagher, who also reached out to other survivors. This included Patrick McMahon, a Windsor resident who was the first to file a complaint against Marshall.

Rev. William Hodgson Marshall when he was principal at Holy Names Catholic High School in Windsor in 1986. POSTMEDIA FILE PHOTO

The film was presented to a Toronto audience at the 2019 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, which is North America’s largest documentary festival that presents about 200 selected films.

Prey won the Rogers Audience Award for Best Canadian Documentary and the DGC Special Jury Prize. It was also voted the second-best documentary overall among the 252 films shown.

Marshall pleaded guilty in 2011 and was jailed. Over the course of 38 years, he sexually abused 17 minors while serving as a Catholic school teacher and Basilian priest in Sudbury, Toronto and Windsor. He was defrocked in 2014 before he died at the age of 92.

Last April, MacLeod was awarded $2.6 million in damages.

To learn more about the film, visit the awards website.

 

 

 

 

 




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