New Cove Concerns?
20 days ago a Wall Street Journal article by Tokyo-based correspondent Yuka Hayashi reported that The Cove‘s capturing of the Best Feature Documentary Oscar “could give the film an audience its makers had wanted to reach: ordinary moviegoers in Japan. The movie has had only a single viewing, at the Tokyo International Film Festival [last] October, and hasn’t yet been distributed in commercial theaters in Japan because of objections from the town it features.”
It further reports that “Japanese theaters have stayed away from The Cove because of protest from Taiji, a fishing town of 3,800 people in Western Japan that bills itself as the ‘birthplace of Japan’s commercial whaling.’ The town’s officials requested the film’s Japanese distributor to drop it, saying it was shot without permission of its people and constituted libel.
“To address Taiji’s complaint that the film was shot without permission from fishermen and other people in the town, their faces will be glazed over. It will also include a note pointing out the controversial nature of an expert’s comment in the film regarding the high mercury content of dolphin meat.” Controversial but not inaccurate.
I’m posting this because last night I ran into Cove producer Fisher Stevens (at the final performance of The Pride at the Lucille Lortel theatre), and he told me that Medallion Media, the film’s Japanese distributor, has postponed the Cove‘s theatrical release (reportedly set for “May or June,” according to Hayashi) due to some manner of pressure from some governmental agency, or perhaps from the courts.
Stevens said today that his sales agent has told him that Medallion had agreed to a May 15th release date, but has recently pushed it back to July 15th over apparent concerns regarding a possible Taiji libel suit. “We told them they have to release the film,” Stevens said. “They’re doing what they can but can’t keep postponing.” In fact, he said, “We’re pushing them to move it back up [to May 15th].”
Stevens also mentioned that pressure has been brought to bear to force the distributor to re-cut the film, alluding to what Hayashi reported almost three weeks ago.
To learn a bit more I wrote Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, whose negotiations with the Tokyo Film Festival led to The Cove being screened last October, but nothing so far. I also cc’ed Lincoln O’Barry, the son of Ric O’Barry — zip.
Fixed — HE
Their problem is with the comment about mercury in dolphin meat, not the fucking slaughter?!?
Jesus.
Colin,
Japanese culture, by and large, doesn’t have quite the same conception of animal cruelty that much of the west does. Apparently it’s getting “better,” but I’m not surprised that they wouldn’t take much exception to the actual killing – variations on which have probably been part of their culture for a long time.
In any case, if people in Japan WANT to see The Cove, they’ll see it. Piracy, downloads etc. there are MUCH worse and even more poorly regulated than they are here – the entire Asian electronic-media world might as well be the wild west.
The mercury in meat issue, especially as pertains to the mandatory school lunches in Japan–ie alleged mass poisoning of their kids–is a potentially far more explosive issue than the dolphin slaughter.
Get a camera on the cow killing floor, and big whoop. Say on TV after the madcow-disease scare that you’ve eaten your last hamburger, and it’s World War III.
@mrksltsky
If they didn’t slaughter dolphins for meals they wouldn’t have to worry about the mercury.
By sheer coincidence:
When I was heading into the supermarket earlier today, two women– one a shrill Yenta type, the other a granola blonde– were loading their trunk.
Yenta said to Janis Joplin:
“Oh, my GOD, I SO have to tell you about this movie I saw last night!” The hippie chick expressed ZERO INTEREST and didn’t even acknowledge it before the other continued on, “It was called THE COVE, and–”
I perked up thinking I’d have some great report for Jeff about WOMEN TALKING ABOUT THE COVE, but right then an adjacent 1971 DUSTER fired up its engine and obscured the conversation and shooed me away in a plume of toxic exhaust… By this time the ladies were getting into the car to carry on this one-sided conversation. I got the impression the shrill chick was either blown away or traumatized by it, and the other one was totally tuned out to the report.
Unless mercury poisoning disproportionately affects dolphin meat, it seems like there’s a bigger story there than just limited to dolphins…
Well, they got prior issues with their chemical plants leaking waste into their sea, so…
Pigs are highly intelligent, creative, sensitive creatures. There is little that you can say about a dolphin that you can’t say about a pig. Yet we don’t have a documentary revealing the horrors of bacon production.
Just because Flipper is really good at public relations doesn’t make it a sin to kill and eat him.
Now, I wouldn’t want to eat dolphin meat because of the mercury.
save the cute animals
Almost any situation —good or bad— is affected by the cheap prada shoes attitude we bring to.
Mod Converter is a powerful MOD video converter which can MOD to AVI, MOD to MPG, MOD to MPEG, MOD to WMV and to other video format, such as ASF, DivX, XviD, MP4, VCD, SVCD, DVD-Video, VOB and so on.
Mod to AVI Converter
Mod to WMV Converter
Mod to VOB Converter
Mod to MPG Converter
Mod to MP4 Converter
Mod to FLV Converter
Mod to Xvid Converter
Mod to 3GP Converter
Mod Editor
On the comer in the centuries, the organization found that ponies were being on their way released and even commenced making gear, trunks, and additionally sacks. Nearly right away, hermes handbags had been delivered.His or her luggage come in the belief that it is just a timeless instead of dissapear of favor, consequently they can be worthwhile each individual anything everyone covered for. Because the truth of the matter from the major rates of them , possibly it really is acceptable that you should decide on the superior quality imitation Hermes as is also likewise together with almost any benefits which the authentic Hermes possesses. In case you are from the rapture of getting a classy bag, hermes birkin bags are actually the actual great alternative.