Greenwich Entertainment Acquires Tribeca True Crime Doc ‘The Phantom’ About Wrongful Execution Case, Doug Liman Joins As Exec Producer

Andreas Wiseman
·2 min read

EXCLUSIVE: Greenwich Entertainment has acquired North American distribution rights to The Phantom by BAFTA-winning director Patrick Forbes (The Force).

The Phantom tells the story of a dark episode in the history of American justice, the execution of Carlos DeLuna who was arrested in 1993 aged 21 for the murder of Wanda Lopez. DeLuna protested his innocence until his execution, declaring that it was another Carlos who committed the crime. The prosecution insisted that this other Carlos was a “phantom’ and didn’t exist. Through interviews with witnesses, Carlos’s family members, and legal experts, the film asks whether the judicial system wrongly executed an innocent man, and whether a poor Hispanic youth had any chance within a justice system and a society that by it’s actions seemed to regard him as disposable.

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The Grain Media and Oxford Films documentary will have its world premiere at the upcoming virtual Tribeca Film Festival and Greenwich will release in theaters on July 2.

The film was produced by Mark Bentley with Oscar-winning director Orlando von Einsiedel and Doug Liman as executive producers. Rooks Nest, Great Point Media and Hitchley funded.

Greenwich’s Andy Bohn negotiated the deal with 3OWest on behalf of the filmmakers.

Forbes said: “I’m thrilled to be working with Greenwich on The Phantom. They completely got the movie from day one – the mystery at its heart, and the tragic importance of what happened. In this film, for the first time we prove without a shadow of a doubt that America executed an innocent man. It’s a shocking, moving, and enraging story, and I couldn’t wish for a better partner to tell it with.’

Fee Solo distributor Greenwich’s upcoming slate includes Kim A. Synder’s Us Kids and Ebs Burnough’s The Capote Tapes.

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