8 h 9 dez 2021 ano - MINAMATA Minamata, suppressed by MGM, to be released in North America on December 15

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Minamata, suppressed by MGM, to be released in North America on December 15

by David Walsh

On December 3, Iervolino & Lady Bacardi Entertainment (ILBE) officially announced that it had acquired North American distribution rights to Minamata, the drama about the industrial poisoning of Japanese fishing communities. The news was reported by Deadline two days earlier.

The film, directed by Andrew Levitas, features Johnny Depp as photographer W. Eugene Smith, who worked tirelessly in the 1970s to expose the Chisso Corporation’s criminality. While Minamata has been released in many countries around the world, to considerable acclaim, MGM, which previously held the rights, sat on the film for months, in apparent response to a #MeToo smear campaign against Depp.

ILBE is partnering with Samuel Goldwyn Films to release Minamata in theaters beginning December 15, with a theatrical rollout across the US and Canada extending into 2022. One of the aims is to make the film eligible for Academy Award consideration. ILBE and Samuel Goldwyn were also responsible for the US release of Waiting for the Barbarians (Ciro Guerra, 2019), the remarkable film about colonial brutality also featuring Depp.

Minamata, written by David K. Kessler, Stephen Deuters, Jason Forman and Levitas, received its world premiere as a Berlinale Special Gala as part of the 2020 Berlin International Film Festival. In a press release, ILBE’s Andrea Iervolino said, “Anchored by standout performances and stunning direction and craft artistry, Minamata is the kind of purposeful storytelling that sinks in with audiences and a movie they will appreciate seeing.”

Director-writer-producer Levitas told Deadline: “I am thrilled that North American audiences will finally be able to learn about what happened and continues to happen in Minamata and around the world. The silencing of marginalized voices and those left behind … by large corporate behemoths has to end, and with new like-minded partners this story will finally come to light in North America and hopefully offer some peace to the victims and their families who have been put through far too much.”

Kevin Eugene Smith, the son of W. Eugene Smith, responded to the Deadline article on December 1: “Here’s the news we’ve all been awaiting: Minamata will be released in the U.S. and Canada beginning 12/15 in select theaters. Then into 2022. Thanks to all who pressured MGM so tirelessly to relinquish distribution rights to Samuel Goldwyn Films.”

The news of the film’s distribution is very welcome, but it in no way diminishes the foul attempt by MGM and the Hollywood establishment generally to “bury” Minamata. At least now Levitas’ film will escape the fate of Roman Polanski’s J’accuse (An Officer and a Spy, 2019), a drama about the notorious Dreyfus Affair, which has been entirely blocked from being shown to US audiences.

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