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'Fahrenheit 9/11' won't be disqualified
from Oscars despite unauthorized Cuban airing
LOS ANGELES, 4 (AFP) - The screening of
US filmmaker Michael Moore's explosive political
documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11"
on Cuban television last week will not hurt
the film's Oscar chances, officials indicated.
The film's distributors said the copy aired
in the communist state on July 29 was pirated
and Oscar chiefs said that if that is the
case, "Fahrenheit" is still eligible
for a possible Oscar nomination next year.
Under Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences rules, a film that aired on television
or on the Internet within nine months of
its theatrical release is no longer eligible
for Oscars consideration.
But Academy spokesman John Pavlik said
the film, which has caused political tidal
waves by bashing US President George. W.
Bush ahead of November's election, would
not be disqualified if it was aired without
its makers' and distributors' consent using
a stolen or pirated copy.
"If we disqualified all movies that
have been pirated, we would disqualify all
movies," he told AFP.
The film's producers Miramax studios and
its Canadian-based distributors Lions Gate
Films insisted they never agreed to allow
the polemical documentary to be aired in
Cuba.
"The film that was illegally shown
on Cuban state-run TV was from an unauthorized,
pirated copy," they said in a t
statement.
The television screening of the movie,
which upped the temperature of Havana's
feverish media offensive against Bush and
his policies, came even as "Fahrenheit
9/11" was playing in cinemas in the
island state.
The documentary has made history by earning
more than 100 million box office dollars
in Canada and the United States since its
June 25 release, more than any other documentary.
Some film experts said that the documentary
could become the first one ever to compete
in the Academy Awards best picture category
when the nominations for the 2005 awards
are announced on January 25.
"I think it is going to be the first
documentary to be nominated and to win best
picture at the Oscars," cinema and
television awards expert O'Neil told AFP.
Moore's Cuban Oscar Crisis?
By Josh Grossberg. Tue Aug
3. E! Online.
Just when Michael Moore's detractors thought
they'd caught a break and thwarted Fahrenheit
9/11's Oscar chances...
When Cuba's state-run television broadcast
the gadfly filmmaker's Bush-bashing documentary
last Thursday, it appeared Fahrenheit 9/11
would not be eligible for the Academy Awards.
Pundits had figured the film to be a shoo-in
for a Best Documentary Feature nomination.
But what had Moore's conservative critics
cheering (even if it meant siding with Fidel
Castro) was that under rules established
recently by the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts & Sciences, documentaries become
ineligible for Oscar consideration if they
are broadcast on television or the Internet
within nine months of their theatrical release.
And then on Tuesday, Daily Variety ran
a front-page story casting Moore's Oscar
hopes in doubt.
But the Cuban Oscar Crisis has been averted.
That's because the film's U.S. distributors,
Lions Gate Films, IFC Entertainment and
the Fellowship Adventure Group (formed by
Miramax honchos Harvey and Bob Weinstein
after Walt Disney dumped the film), said
what was shown in Cuba was a bootleg copy
of Fahrenheit and not endorsed by Moore
or his backers.
"The film that was illegally shown
on Cuban state-run TV was from an unauthorized,
pirated copy," says a t statement
from distributors. "The distributors
have confirmed with the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts & Sciences that they absolutely
did not sanction the screening, and that
it was shown from a pirated copy of the
film."
Per Daily Variety, reps for overseas distributor
Wild Bunch, which handles foreign sales
in that country, also denied a television
deal was struck with Cuba.
Given all that information, a rep for the
Academy confirmed Tuesday that Moore's controversial
polemic--which has grossed more than $100
million since its June 25 release and has
become the most successful documentary ever--did
not violate Oscar rules and remains eligible
for Oscar glory.
"If it was pirated or stolen or unauthorized
we would not blame the producer or distributor
for that," Academy spokesman John Pavlik
told E! Online.
Similar situations have arisen recently
with pirated versions of such films as The
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,
Mystic River and Master and Commander: The
Far Side of the World turning up on the
Web and on the black market in several countries
before the films' official release there.
But unlike documentaries, fiction films
are not barred from eligibility if that
happens and are allowed to air on TV shortly
after they hit theaters.
According to Pavlik, the stringent nine-month
rule for documentaries was enacted by the
Academy to help the genre gain a wider foothold
with exhibitors.
"In the documentary case, a couple
of years ago the committee was worried that
they had been sent to TV so fast they had
no chance of having a real theatrical exhibition
life, so they added this rule so they could
help encourage that," the spokesman
added.
For documentaries, the deadline for submissions
for this year's Oscar contest is Sept. 1,
and the Academy typically receives about
60 submissions for that category.
Even still, speculation is rife within
the Industry that Moore & Co., emboldened
by Fahrenheit's success, are considering
releasing the film as a pay-per-view special
before the Nov. 2 election in hopes of influencing
undecided voters.
Such a strategy would mean the distributors
would have to give up competing in the documentary
category and submit Fahrenheit for Best
Picture consideration, making a calculated
bet that Oscar voters would be willing to
embrace it as the first documentary in Oscar
history to vie for Tinseltown's top honor.
Indeed, in its round-up of early Oscar
contenders, the award-show site GoldDerby.com
suggests that Fahrenheit has so much
in Hollywood that the film could be in the
running for both Best Picture and Best Director.
Moore already owns an Oscar for Best Documentary
for his 2002 anti-gun doc Bowling for Columbine.
Distributors didn't comment Tuesday on
the speculation. Moore has said that he
wants Fahrenheit to be released on DVD by
September.
And in case you're wondering what Cubans
thought about Fahrenheit, CNN reports that
the reaction was generally positive.
"It gives you an idea of the peril
the world is in led by a man with such a
small brain," one unidentified Cuban
male told the cable-news network through
a translator.
However, others saw Moore's film as a celebration
of freedom of expression.
"The film shows that the alternative
media, in other words, independent media,
is possible in the United States,"
said another Cuban who wished to remain
anonymous.
Meanwhile, one country that won't be screening
Fahrenheit is Kuwait. The government there
has banned the film, claiming it bashes
the Saudi royal family and is critical of
America's invasion of Iraq and thus violates
a law that forbids insulting a friendly
nation.
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