You've already heard the good news that a rights buyer named Medallion Media and a distributor named Unplugged, both here in Japan, have been bold enough to take on Louis Psihoyos' Oscar-winning documentary The Cove. As you can see on the film's official Japanese website, it's slated for release in the early summer (end of June, I've been told). The film's American site also has a Japanese subsite with background on the film and the localized trailer, complete with blurred faces (an understandable concession Unplugged made).A good friend is working on the publicity team for The Cove and is worried that certain members of Japan's uyoku (right wing) and representatives of Taiji, the town where the dolphin cull takes place, will exert so much pressure on exhibitors that they'll end up without any screens to show the film on. These groups are already ramping up threats which is making theatrical bookings difficult. See this CNN segment on the protests held outside of the distribution offices earlier this month.
Whatever you think of The Cove or its makers, it deserves to be released here. The people of Japan are big boys and girls -- they're able to watch a film about an aspect of their own country and discuss it, or dismiss it, like adults. But first they need to be allowed to see it. A couple of years ago a similar situation brewed with "controversial" documentary Yasukuni until it finally got its release and people were able to talk about it.
Aside from local media shining a light on the issue (more on that below), foreign language outlets should also bring attention to the situation. If you're a journalist writing for a website or publication of note and believe The Cove should be released, do your part to make that known. There will be another upcoming press screening (under police guard) where you can see the film and learn more about the difficult circumstances it's facing here.
If you're interested in going to the screening you can contact me via the "contact" link in the right-hand column (日本語でも構いません).
In the meantime, Fuji TV weekly morning show Tokudane (「とくダネ」) will take a look at views on the film from both the US and Japanese perspective tomorrow morning, April 22nd, at 8:00~9:55 Japan time. I'll be watching (a recording, later in the day).
Update: The Tokudane segment has been bumped to tomorrow morning (April 23). Hmmm.
Update 2: It seems the segment was again not shown, although it did cover PETA activities. Will find out what happened.
Update 3:A planned screening of The Cove at a U.S. military base in Yokota has been cancelled (yes, I had to read it twice, too). Article.
10 comments:
Hooray for taking this on, Jason! I liked the film a lot, though I understand how touchy the issue is for most Japanese. The thing is, the most compelling stuff in the doc isn't from the "animal rights" angle, but from the human health angle. Even if you don't care that dolphins are needlessly killed, the information about human mercury poisoning is something that every Japanese person should be aware of.
I brought up the film earlier this year at a dinner with three Japanese friends, and learned my lesson not to do so ever again. One friend, a woman who works for a film & video company, shocked me with her response. She speaks English fluently, travels overseas all the time, attends film festivals and markets, and even engages in ocean-going sports. Yet she was saying stuff like how she and her friends wanted to cheer when the dolphins were killed in the film; there was absolutely no gray area in her mind: the filmmakers were wrong and should leave stuff like this to the Japanese. I had to pick my jaw up off the floor after that one.
Hi Marc,
Thanks for your comments and that anecdote -- phew.
I absolutely agree that the slaughter is only one aspect of the film, and not the most important issue. Sure it's hard to watch dolphins being eviscerated, but any slaughter footage is disturbing (check out the mini-documentaries on meat.org, including Meet your Meat, which was also included on the end of Morrissey's live DVD "Who Put the M in Manchester?").
It's all straw man arguments, really. If someone did a documentary about how a country with a fairly benign image like Canada exports baby horses (foals) to France and Japan for slaughter it may well be just as shocking (though without the human health issue I suppose). But would a group of people with bad haircuts and flags that need to be taken to the dry cleaners be able to stop cinemas from showing it? I doubt it. That's a big difference.
I happen to think The Cove is an exceedingly well-made piece in the vein of Michael Moore -- more manipulative than average but undeniably thought-provoking.
It's actually irrelevant whether it's good or bad, biased or unbiased, wrong or right -- people can make up their own minds when they see it. What is the right-wing's worse case scenario? That people from other parts of Japan revolt and cause the closure of this industry in Taiji? That's not going to happen. But whether or not the mercury levels are too high needs to be investigated. Nobody wants another Minamata.
Haven't seen the film,so I only write what I think I know,or what my colleague think in the office.
There's zero sympathy for the film and unlike the case of"Yasukuni",there's nobody who see the whole event from the angle of freedom of expression.
People in this country are getting sick and tired of neverending one sided accusation on sustainable hunting of cetacean by the westerners.In a way,the extreme rightists are giving favor to the distributors,since they added some new flavor in the dish.
What matters here is so called 期待権,the right of expectation,a polemic idea that popped up after the 2001 NHK documentary on people's trial on comfort women and changed everything about documentary filming in this country.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9C%9F%E5%BE%85%E6%A8%A9
The Cove crew shot many locals without explaining the intention of the maker or
without full disclosure.There has been a even report(Courrier Japon,I recall) that one scientist questioned to Ric O'Barry that this was not the kind of movie that he was being told in advance and he wants his scene cut.
These allegations are showing that the film is potentially violating the "right of legitimate expectation"in multiple occasions,thus could face long and costly trials of which could sank the distributor.
Needless to say,there has been multiple tresspassing conducted in the making of film.It takes little imagination why people in Taiji,Wakayama is pissed.Another reason why we in media is not amused with the doc.
If there's anyone out there who thinks "The Cove"is the right messenger to the Japanese society to force them abolish the tradition which has been lasted for centuries,then they are thinking exactly the same way as the Jesus-praising republican bandwagon from Texas could bring freedom to Iraq and the locals would take it graciously.
And I'm pretty certain that Michael Moore wouldn't think that way.
Somehow I also think the foreign correspodents are not the right types of people tells J-soceity what to do,especially after I read tweets from Roger Ebert saying this.
http://twitter.com/ebertchicago/status/10552364155
Only god knows how many of them have experience of paying 18 bucks for a foreign documentary with subtitles.
First you need to see the film to talk at length about it, but your point about the 期待権 is interesting. Would it apply to a film not funded here, even though it was shot here? Does the fact that a Japanese distributor picked it up now mean they must follow those standards as if it were a local doc? The film could still work without the footage shot while trespassing. The Moore comparison was in reference to the style of filmmaking.
When I think of this whole issue of releasing The Cove it's got nothing to do with telling Japanese people to stop hunting dolphins -- at least not for this blogger. As I said, almost every country has "traditions" other nations would find barbaric.
People are most certainly allowed to protest its release. But threaten distributors and cinema managers? Please.
Bottom line is the film must be allowed to be seen for the people of Japan to torpedo it as they see fit.
And as someone who's lived here a decade even I'm beginning to tire of the constant, self-righteous calls for Japan to apologize for this and stop that. Even if the debate is legitimate, I can understand why people are getting "sick" of this as you say.
But I grew up in a censorship-heavy era of Ontario, Canada's history and have a bug up my ass about people A telling people B what they can or can't see. I can't abide by movie suppression.
"First you need to see the film to talk at length about"
Perhaps.
Just asking this from curiosity,but had the filmmakers paid attention to the opinion of Taiji resident before they make film at length on the subject?
I had written mostly based on the Japanese media coverage and shared opinion on film by good numbers of people in this country and no intention of paying money to see the movie anyway.
Ric O'barry officially calls for boycotting COP10 of Convention of Biodiversity in to be held in Nagoya this October along with Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd.I was talking with people from my office,Nagoya city and various NGOs this afternoon and everyone is pissed.
期待権could be apply to any film being screened or aired in this country,if only the Taiji fishermen take it to the court.
"People are most certainly allowed to protest its release. But threaten distributors and cinema managers? Please"
I would probably send a dead and wrapped dolphin to the distibutor if I were a Taiji fisherman,but then is this actually happening?Just like the city of Bloom,Australia being constantly threatened by those who saw the film and eventually cut off the sister-city relation with Taiji temporary?
If so,then it's a whole different story.
All of the Sea Shepherd/biodiversity issues are beyond my knowledge and scope. Ric O'Barry strikes me as a good person but my limited impression is that he's on a lifelong self-redemption trip over his Flipper/seaquarium years.
Did they confer with town heads prior to filming? I doubt it. O'Barry was already a persona non grata as far as I could tell.
I was told first hand the threats are happening, hence making it difficult to book the film, but I don't think it's dolphin heads presented Godfather style. But you know how it works -- the cinema owners don't want to cause meiwaku to surrounding business etc. etc. and suddenly a film's release is in doubt.
An internet (+keitai) premiere for a reasonable price would probably work better and avoid street tsuris.
I just think media outlets writing thousands of words debating a film they haven't seen is kind of crazy. I remember it happening with Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ when I was very young and thought it was stupid then.
"I just think media outlets writing thousands of words debating a film they haven't seen is kind of crazy."
There's nothing new under the sun.
I still have a copy of Japanese edition of International Wildlife Magazine published by National Wildlife Federation,the largest wildlife conservation advocacy organization in the United States and Canada.And the cover story of one of the issue in 1980 was titled "The day dolphines died".
It is a report of dolphine slaughtering in the cove,but this one is in Iki,Nagasaki.(a little trivia.The Japanese edition of the mag was published by the financial support from Sasakawa Ryouichi)
There was huge controversy at the time.An American activist was arrested for attempting to cut the net and tried to release the dolphin. Olivia Newton John refused her Japan tour as protest.
Anyway,this sort of media craze happens all the time.How many foreign correspondents actually took a Japanese history textbooks in their hands before they accuse it's whitewashing the Japanese past wrongdoings.Although those I know who wrote thousand words have at least either seen the film in abroad,or seen it in sishakai.
If the journos actually saw the film and slammed it (link?) then fine, as long as they're not saying it shouldn't be released. Audiences can make up their own minds -- they don't need pundits, pugilists and pescatori telling them what to see.
”They don't need pundits, pugilists and pescatori telling them what to see."
Talk about pugilists,I don't think she agrees with you.
http://www.greenmuze.com/celebs/green/2464-hayden-panettiere-returns-to-taiji-.html
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