Tell Them You Love Me Premiering on Sky Documentaries

Sky Documentaries has slated the premiere of Tell Them You Love Me, a feature documentary from Louis Theroux’s Mindhouse, for November.

The film explores what happened between married female professor Anna Stubblefield and Derrick Johnson, a non-verbal Black man with cerebral palsy. After two years of work, Stubblefield claimed to have “unlocked” Derrick’s mind, but when she then said the two were in love, Johnson’s family became wary and a criminal trial that challenged perceptions of disability and consent began.

The 100-minute film is co-produced with Topic, which will distribute the film through Kino Lorber in North America. NBCUniversal Global Distribution will handle international sales outside of North America on behalf of Sky Studios.

Tell Them You Love Me is directed by Nick August-Perna. Executive producers are Theroux and Arron Fellows.

“When I started Mindhouse four years ago, this was exactly the kind of morally complex film I’d hoped we might be involved in making,” said Theroux, co-founder and chief creative officer of Mindhouse. “It deals with some of the most sensitive and difficult themes in the culture but does so in a way that is intelligent and forensic and never sensationalist. Tell Them You Love Me is also just a powerful story that millions of people will enjoy watching and be totally engaged by. Nick is a terrific filmmaker, and it’s a privilege to have been able to work with him and his team.”

Poppy Dixon, director of documentaries and factual at Sky, added, “The case of Anna and Derrick is extraordinarily complex, and we’re thrilled to be working with Louis Theroux and the team at Mindhouse who have done an excellent job of sensitively unravelling the nuanced and specific moral questions this case poses. We’re certain audiences will find this documentary both confronting and compelling.”