Documentary on Sophie's murder set for Sundance

Developed by Academy Award-nominated Irish director Jim Sheridan and investigative reporter Donal MacIntyre, the project will boast unprecedented access to all parties involved in the case.

It is expected to prove a landmark in Irish documentary film-making.

Isolated

Ms du Plantier (39), a French film executive and mother-of-one, was brutally beaten to death as she tried to flee from an attacker at her isolated holiday home in Toormore, west Cork, on December 23, 1996.

Despite one of the biggest garda murder investigations ever mounted, no one has ever been charged with her killing in Ireland.

Manchester-born freelance journalist and poet Ian Bailey (62) was twice arrested for questioning by gardai in connection with the case in 1997 and 1998 before being released without charge on both occasions.

Mr Bailey has vehemently protested his innocence and maintained that attempts were made to frame him for the crime.

However, he was convicted of her killing in absentia after a high-profile Paris trial in May last year following a decade-long investigation by a French magistrate.

He is now fighting extradition to France.

The documentary by Mr Sheridan and Mr MacIntyre has involved exhaustive interviews and behind-the-scenes access over several years to many of those involved in the case.

The Sundance Film Festival will run from January 21 to 31 in Utah in the US.