Publish to Newswire
Add an EventFrom the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
Disney To Censor Michael Moore's New Film
LOS ANGELES — The Walt Disney Company is blocking its Miramax Films division from distributing Michael Moore's documentary Fahrenheit 911, which criticizes U.S. President George W. Bush, according to a statement on Moore's Web site.
The film is highly critical of Bush's handling of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and his actions leading up the attacks.
“I would have hoped by now that I would be able to put my work out to the public without having to experience the profound censorship obstacles I often seem to encounter,” Mr. Moore wrote in the statement.
Miramax spokesman Matthew Hiltzik did not immediately return calls for comment Wednesday. Disney spokesman John Spelich also did not return calls early Wednesday.
Moore attributes Disney's decision to concerns that the documentary will endanger tax breaks the company receives from Florida and anger Bush's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
Disney has a contractual agreement with Miramax principals Bob and Harvey Weinstein allowing it to prevent the company from distributing films under certain circumstances, such as an NC-17 rating, according to The New York Times, which first reported the story.
“Some people may be afraid of this movie because of what it will show,” Mr. Moore wrote. “But there's nothing they can do about it now because it's done, it's awesome, and if I have anything to say about it, you'll see it this summer — because, after all, it is a free country.”
The often confrontational director won an Oscar for his 2002 documentary “Bowling for Columbine,” about the Columbine High School shooting and U.S. gun control policy. He's also known for the 1989 film Roger & Me, which explored the effects of General Motors on his hometown of Flint, Mich.
Fahrenheit 911 will be one of 18 films in competition next week at the Cannes Film Festival, Mr. Moore wrote.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040505.wDisney0505/BNStory/Business/
“I would have hoped by now that I would be able to put my work out to the public without having to experience the profound censorship obstacles I often seem to encounter,” Mr. Moore wrote in the statement.
Miramax spokesman Matthew Hiltzik did not immediately return calls for comment Wednesday. Disney spokesman John Spelich also did not return calls early Wednesday.
Moore attributes Disney's decision to concerns that the documentary will endanger tax breaks the company receives from Florida and anger Bush's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
Disney has a contractual agreement with Miramax principals Bob and Harvey Weinstein allowing it to prevent the company from distributing films under certain circumstances, such as an NC-17 rating, according to The New York Times, which first reported the story.
“Some people may be afraid of this movie because of what it will show,” Mr. Moore wrote. “But there's nothing they can do about it now because it's done, it's awesome, and if I have anything to say about it, you'll see it this summer — because, after all, it is a free country.”
The often confrontational director won an Oscar for his 2002 documentary “Bowling for Columbine,” about the Columbine High School shooting and U.S. gun control policy. He's also known for the 1989 film Roger & Me, which explored the effects of General Motors on his hometown of Flint, Mich.
Fahrenheit 911 will be one of 18 films in competition next week at the Cannes Film Festival, Mr. Moore wrote.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040505.wDisney0505/BNStory/Business/
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
Donate
$40.00 donated
in the past month
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.
Topics
More
Search Indybay's Archives
Advanced Search
►
▼
IMC Network
Michael Moore, Wesley Clark, Mumia, Fahrenheit
9/11 and the US Invasion of Saudi Arabia
on this page
Michael Moore blames the Saudis (who did not run NORAD on 9/11)
Michael Moore proclaims Mumia abu Jamal guilty
Michael Moore flacks for war criminal Wesley Clark
Michael Moore's next film - Fahrenheit 9/11
Michael Moore is one of America's most famous
dissidents. He first received notoriety for his
film "Roger and Me," a biting commentary on the
General Motors corporation, "downsizing" jobs,
and elite indiffierence to the destruction of
working class communities such as Moore's native
Flint, Michigan. Roger and Me propelled him into
fame, with TV shows (mostly aired in Britain),
and several other films, including "Pets or
Meat," "The Big One," and the Oscar award winning
"Bowling for Columbine."
Moore's 2003 book "Dude, Where's my Country?"
included severely deficient analysis of 9/11 that
provides (hopefully) inadvertent support for the
US's next war - the invasion of the Saudi oil
fields, the largest on Earth.
The thesis that Moore puts forward is essentially
this: the Saudis attacked the US on 9/11, Bush
has business ties to the Saudis, therefore, Bush
must be replaced in 2004. While elements of this
are true, the claim that the Saudis perpetrated
9/11 is reminiscent of similar claims that the
Mafia killed President Kennedy. In neither case
did the Saudis nor the Mafia have the power to
turn off the normal protection (of New York or of
the President).
see http://www.oilempire.us/saudi.html for
detailed reasons why the "blame the Saudis"
campaign is really a sophisticated effort to lay
the ground work for the forthcoming US invasion
of Saudi Arabia. The Saudis were merely a
subcontractor in 9-11 (at most), since they do
not control the Air Force and NORAD's fighter
planes that are supposed to intercept off-course
jet liners within minutes. While it is unknown
whether Moore realizes that he is playing into
the "Project for a New American Century"
strategists (who seem eager to declare Saudi
Arabia an enemy of the US and put it toward the
top of the "Countries We Must Invade" list), his
next film "Fahrenheit 9/11" will certainly be
seen as the "dissident" view of 9/11. What
remains to be seen is whether the film will
actually probe into the complicity of the Bush
administration in the event, or whether it will
be a "Limited Hang Out" that blames Bush for
"intelligence failures" and points out
(accurately) that the Bush and Bin Laden families
have business ties that date to the 1970s.
see also http://www.oilempire.us/limited.html -
Limited Hang Outs (fessing up to a small crime to
avoid the deeper crime - understanding the
mechanisms of coverups)
see also http://www.oilempire.us/saudioil.html -
Saudi Arabia's oil is almost entirely
concentrated in the minority Shia part of the
country, demographics and geology
A September 2003 article in In These Times by
Seth Ackerman, a contributing writer to FAIR,
focused on the "intelligence failures" of 911 and
how the Saudi hijackers were able to bypass US
intelligence. He concluded that the
"incompetence" theory was plausible, and "it
ought to be possible to steer a middle course
between wild speculation and cynical whitewash."
While it's obvious that the Saudis played a role
-- they've supported US terror in Nicaragua,
Lebanon and Afghanistan -- they weren't in charge
of air defense over Washington and New York.
Perhaps their role was similar to the Mafia in
Dallas in 1963 (JFK), a subcontractor who helped
with the technical aspects, but they weren't in
charge of the main event, nor running the coverup
afterwards.
Maybe for the next war, the liberal peace
movement will talk about the relevance of "peak
oil" and the Bush strategy of intentional
deceptions to prepare the public for war. (WMD is
a much smaller deception than 911.) The
proclivity of some on the "left" to blame the
"Saudis" for 911 - and complain about the Bush -
Saudi connections - is an unintentional statement
of support for the US attack on the ONLY country
that could have significant increases in daily
oil extraction rates.
While it is true that the Bush and Bin Laden
clans have had business connections for over two
decades, the Saudis did not, could not, ensure
the "stand down" of the Air Force on 9/11. Nor
would have a Saudi air force pilot (let alone the
official claim that a flight school drop out was
responsible) have chosen the nearly empty, under
reconstruction section of the Pentagon as a
target. See http://www.oilempire.us/remote.html
for evidence that remote control software was
used to ensure that the Pentagon was hit in the
one section that would cause the fewest
casualties (the plane that hit the building is
reported to have gone in a 270 degree spiral
around the complex to line up with the part of
the Pentagon where it would cause the least
damage, thereby bypassing Donald Rumsfeld's
office).
http://xymphora.blogspot.com
Monday, October 20, 2003
The attack on the Saudis is intended to
further the neocon goal of eventually destroying the Saudi government
so the United States can take over the Saudi oilfields. The
propaganda campaign has been so successful, the neocons even have
Michael Moore parroting it. The main trick was to leave the Saudi
matters out of the published 9-11 report, so people could think the
worst of the Saudis, and then slyly make people believe that it was
left out because Bush was protecting his Saudi business friends. A
brilliant strategy! All of this propaganda works only because
Americans are still afraid to admit who was really behind 9-11. A
hint: the Saudis don't run NORAD.