CUBA NEWS
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Oscar braces for Cuban missile
Timothy M. Gray, STAFF.
Variety.com. Sun Aug 1, 9:19 PM ET
Could Fidel Castro affect this year's Oscar
race?
"Fahrenheit 9/11" was apparently
shown last week on Cuban state-run TV. According
to Academy of Motion Picture Arts &
Sciences rules, a feature is disqualified
for a documentary Oscar if it airs on TV
or the Internet anywhere in the world within
nine months of its bigscreen run.
While most documakers would be dismayed
at the prospect of an Oscar nix, the backers
of the Michael Moore-helmed pic might welcome
it: The move could give the pic a stronger
push in the best film race.
Reps at French org Wild Bunch, sales agent
for the pic overseas, aver that they made
no television deal in Cuba.
Piracy doesn't count
If the screening was from a pirated copy
or unauthorized, the film would not be disqualified.
(Piracy last year made "The Lord of
the Rings: The Return of the King,"
and virtually every other major Oscar contender,
available on the Internet soon after their
bigscreen debuts.)
Even if the TV showing was unauthorized,
the film has several other hurdles to cross
before the Feb. 27 Oscarcast. Under the
Acad's new rule for docus, "Fahrenheit"
could not air on any TV until late March.
U.S. distributors Lions Gate, Fellowship
Adventure Group (spearheaded by Bob and
Harvey Weinstein) and IFC have mulled a
DVD release or a pay-per-view airing just
prior to the Nov. 2 election. The PPV event
would disqualify the film from a docu prize
(though a DVD push wouldn't affect it).
While a docu could be considered in both
best pic and documentary categories, no
film so far has made that double play. (A
handful of pics, most recently "Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon," have been nominated
in the best pic and foreign-lingo categories).
Unlevel playing field
Though the docu branch has the nine-month
holding pattern, that doesn't apply to any
other Oscar categories. So, for example,
"Spider-Man 2" or "Shrek
2" could air on TV within a week of
their bigscreen bows and would still be
eligible for Oscar consideration.
So "Fahrenheit," even if disqualified
for docu consideration, could compete in
other races -- picture, director, editing
-- no matter what happens in PPV, or what
happened in Cuba.
The Cuban report originated in a Reuters
story that ran late last week. The story
also stated, "Cubans have stood in
long lines to buy tickets to see rough DVD
copies projected at 120 cinema theaters
across the island to unfailing applause."
With a reference to "rough DVD copies,"
it's unclear if even the bigscreen showings
were authorized.
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