Dole’s lawyers are trying to stop BANANAS!*. As they were unsuccessful with asking Judge Chaney (the judge in the Tellez case) to stop the film, Dole’s lawyers started writing letters to us, our US partner ITVS, the Los Angeles Film Festival, and the LA Film Festival’s corporate sponsors, demanding that we ‘cease and desist’ plans to screen the film on June 20 at the Festival, and anywhere else in the world.
The letters from Dole and our replies (PDF):
- Letter from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (Dole), May 8, 2009
- Reply from Lee & Lawless (WG Film), May 15, 2009
- Letter from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (Dole), May 14, 2009
- Reply from Lee & Lawless (WG Film), May 28, 2009
- Letter from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (Dole), June 23, 2009
Only “banned” in the U.S. and Europe….? Go Asia and Australia…
Comment by Anders Holmdahl — June 13, 2009 @ 7:43 am
The question is not whether a move of the screening to another city is an option, but a question of what legal recourse is available to the producers of the documentary and whether corporate harassment can be permitted, unfortunately we cannot have big multinationals hold us at ransom whilst at the same time endangering the lives of the workers, and the only thing that seems to matter is profit. Such cowardly tactics should be opposed at all costs and it should be made clear they will have no place in this world and a campaign to boycott such bananas should be mounted. You have my support and good will conquer evil for sure. Shame on the lawyers defending such cowards.
Comment by Maanda Ntsandeni — June 17, 2009 @ 2:54 pm
The Los Angeles Film Festival has just earned its acronym for its willing submission to multinational corporate pressure. Dole’s powerful legal firm, Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher has publicized in its June 23 letter that LAFF “itself provided a lengthy written and oral statement to the audience…” It’s interesting to me that LAFF should have such initiative. Is LAFF now a fact-finding body for all film releases it screens? Has LAFF undergone any other fact finding missions “itself” with regards to any other films? Maybe LAFF should, at least, have the courage to admit that it was put under some kind of pressure to act in the way that it did. I mean, we aren’t supposed to believe that it acts in the interests of unrestrained speech, are we? That’s a laff!
Comment by Carlos M. Dominguez (brother) — June 27, 2009 @ 5:33 pm
you’re so smart.that what all people want to say is thank you very much!
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Estonia people want to say is thank you very much!
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Tuvalu people want to say is thank you very much!
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