True Crime Time at SBIFF’s Opener

“It all comes down to the desire to tell stories,” says Michelle Danner, who will tell the story of a true crime and courtroom drama when her film Miranda’s Victim has its world premiere as the opening night movie for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on February 8 at the Arlington Theatre.

Based on the 1963 kidnapping and rape case that ultimately established the laws regarding the notifications given by police to criminal suspects in custody that advise them of their right to silence, Danner says she immediately saw the importance of the story of Trish Weir (played by Little Miss Sunshine herself, Abigail Breslin, who is now 26 years old), the young woman  who was kidnapped and brutally raped by Ernesto Miranda. The subsequent trials went all the way to the Supreme Court and led to creation of the Miranda Rights.