BBC3 orders Colorado shootings doc

August 7, 2012 by Adam Benzine

BBC3

UK network BBC3 has commissioned Mentorn Media to produce an hour-long documentary on the Colorado cinema shootings of July 20.

Entitled The Batman Shootings, the documentary will see presenter Amal Fashanu travel to Aurora, Colorado to investigate the massacre, which left 12 dead and 58 injured. It will air August 23.

Fashanu will speak to survivors including Jansen Young, who lived because her boyfriend shielded her from bullets, as well as a range of young Americans, to gather their opinions on gun ownership laws and the fate of the accused gunman.

BBC3 controller Zai Bennett said: “America’s gun laws are firmly back on the political agenda after the tragic shootings in Aurora, so it’s right that on BBC3 we have commissioned The Batman Shootings; an in-depth current affairs documentary from Mentorn which is being produced at incredible speed in response to the tragedy.”

The doc’s executive producer, Steve Anderson, added: “America is mainly split on the issue of gun controls – this film concentrates on what young people there think should happen now.”

The Batman Shootings was commissioned by Fiona Campbell for BBC News and Current Affairs, and the producer/director is Mark Gregory. Jim Booth serves as co-producer.

Tags: Amal Fashanu, Aurora, BBC, BBC3, Colorado, James Eagan Holmes, Mentorn Media, The Batman Shootings