True-Crime Documentary MOMMY DEAD AND DEAREST, an Official Selection of the Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival, Premieres May 15 on HBO Canada

“Meet your next true crime addiction.” – MarieClaire.com “…a low-down Ozarks version of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?” – The Hollywood Reporter   TORONTO (April 28, 2017) – Fresh off rave reviews from its premiere at last month’s South by Southwest Conference and Festivals, and an upcoming official selection at the Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival, HBO Canada presents the television premiere of MOMMY DEAD AND DEAREST, a chilling and provocative true-crime murder story exploring one of psychology’s most controversial conditions, Munchausen by proxy syndrome. On June 15, 2015, Dee Dee Blanchard was found murdered in her Springfield, Missouri home, and her wheelchair-bound daughter, Gypsy Rose Blanchard, was reported missing. After Gypsy was tracked to Wisconsin and implicated in the murder, what started out as a grisly tale of matricide morphed into a bizarre story of deception and abuse. The 82-minute documentary premieres Monday, May 15 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on HBO Canada, day-and-date with HBO in the U.S. This announcement follows yesterday’s news about The Movie Network’s upcoming slate of original documentary productions, also featured at Hot Docs. Click HERE for a look at MOMMY DEAD AND DEAREST. Following the murder of Dee Dee, a disturbing Facebook post led investigators to implicate her daughter Gypsy Rose in her mother’s death. It was discovered she had been the victim of her mother’s abuse via Munchausen by proxy syndrome since early childhood. MOMMY DEAD AND DEAREST unravels this complicated tale of a mother whose deception subjected her daughter to decades of unnecessary medical treatment – until she reached her tragic breaking point. From director Erin Lee Carr (HBO’s THOUGHT CRIMES: THE CASE OF THE CANNIBAL COP), the documentary features interrogation-room footage of Gypsy, her boyfriend, Nick Godejohn, and various family members, as well as intimate home videos and family photos, medical records, text messages, and courtroom video. In addition to candid interviews with Gypsy from prison, the film includes interviews with her father and stepmother, Rod and Kristy; Dee Dee’s father and stepmother, Claude and Laura; Dr. Bernardo Flasterstein, a pediatric neurologist who was one of the few to raise concerns about Dee Dee’s claims; Gypsy’s lawyer, Mike Stanfield; Greene County prosecutor Dan Patterson; Dr. Marc Feldman, an expert on Munchausen by proxy syndrome; and journalist Michelle Dean, who covered the story for BuzzFeed, among others. MOMMY DEAD AND DEAREST is produced by Andrew Rossi. Co-producers are Alison Byrne and Andrew Coffman. Editor is Andrew Coffman. Director of photography is Bryan Sarkinen. Music by Ian Hultquist. For HBO, senior producer is Sara Bernstein, and executive producer is Sheila Nevins.