Distributor sued after Oscar-winning doco tanks
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An US film-maker is seeking more than $US1 million in damages from a company he says failed to properly distribute and promote his Oscar-winning feature documentary Taxi to the Dark Side.
Alex Gibney's movie focuses on America's use of torture in prisoner interrogations at Guantanamo Bay and in Iraq and Afghanistan following the September 11 attacks.
It had made around $US280,000 worldwide by June 1, according to movie website Box Office Mojo, a fraction of the multimillion dollar takings of other recent documentary Oscar winners.
The 2006 winner, An Inconvenient Truth, raked in almost $US50 million worldwide, while 2005 winner, March of the Penguins, made more than $US127 million, the website said.
Gibney said he has filed for arbitration against the film's distributor THINKFilm, accusing the company of inadequately distributing and marketing the film after its Oscar win in February.
He said fnancial problems within the company has also caused the film's website to shut down.
"We won, we did it, and then not to capitalise on that moment so that a lot of people could hear that message was devastating," Gibney said.
A spokesperson for THINKFilm could not be immediately reached for comment.
Gibney, who previously directed Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, said he was originally mystified about the lack of post-Oscar promotion.
Gibney's company, X-Ray Productions, filed the complaint last week with the Independent Film and Television Alliance, an industry organisation that arbitrates such disputes.
- Reuters
