FilmRise, Canal+ Docs team for Missing From Fire Trail Road
May 23, 2023
FilmRise, the New York-based film and television studio and streaming network, and Canal+ Docs, the French TV Network part of the mass media company Canal+, have boarded the newest documentary of Award-winning director Sabrina Van Tassel (‘The Silenced Walls,” “The State of Texas vs. Melissa”), “Missing From Fire Trail Road.”
The film delves into the case of Mary Ellen Johnson-Davis, a Native-American woman who disappeared in 2020, and exposes how hundreds of indigenous women continue to go missing in the US, perpetuating transgenerational trauma on Indian reservations. The announcement was made today by Max Einhorn, SVP, Acquisitions & Co-Productions at FilmRise, Christine Cauquelin, Group Director of Documentaries for Canal+ , and director producer, Sabrina Van Tassel.
Einhorn commented: “Sabrina is a brilliant filmmaker whose documentaries bring awareness to topics and subjects that are often overlooked, but are no less important. We are honored to be working with Sabrina on her follow-up to “State of Texas vs. Melissa”, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to be collaborating with Canal+. The atrocities committed against indigenous communities must become a mainstream issue so we can bring about change.”
Cauquelin said: “After acquiring ‘The State of Texas vs Melissa’, we supported Sabrina’s incredible impact campaign which helped save Melissa Lucio’s life. Today, we are thrilled to be on board of with her new film. Thousands of Native American women go missing in the US in utter indifference and it is time this urgent matter be brought to the table. We are proud to accompany Sabrina, along with FilmRise, on this important documentary.”
FilmRise will have worldwide distribution rights, all media, excluding France and French speaking territories overseas and in Africa, which Canal + Docs will hold.
Van Tassel added: “I feel compelled to expose these stories of missing indigenous women who are forgotten and whose cases never receive any public attention. More than a crime doc, this film will explore how the traumas have passed on from generation to generation since first contact between natives and Eurpoen settlers. I feel extremely lucky to have both FilmRise and Canal+ Docs supporting me on this project.”