The official trailer for Spotlight has premiered online.

Cited as a major awards contender, the factual drama explores one of the most controversial news stories of recent American history and is sure to have a profound effect on audiences.

Written and directed by Tom McCarthy (The Station Agent, Win Win), the film focuses on how the Boston Globe’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Spotlight” team of investigative journalists shook the city and the world by exposing the Catholic Church’s systematic cover-up of widespread paedophilia perpetrated by more than seventy local priests.

Oscar nominated actors Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right, Foxcatcher) and Michael Keaton (Batman, Birdman) headline the film as Michael Rezenedes and Walter “Robby” Robinson respectively alongside Rachel McAdams (The Notebook, About Time) as Sacha Pfeiffer, Liev Schreiber (The Manchurian Candidate, Ray Donovan) as Marty Baron, John Slattery (Charlie Wilson’s War, Mad Men) as Ben Bradlee Jr., and Oscar nominee Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones, Margin Call) as Mitchell Garabedian.

Spotlight is scheduled for release in the UK on 29 January.