'The Cove' Will Be Shown In At Least Six JapaneseTheaters

GreenTracker| Updated 6/21/10 ABC reports that ‘The Cove’ to Screen in Japan Despite Protests. The domestic distributor, Unplugged, said Monday that six theaters around the country will start showing the movie July 3, with 16 more to screen it later. This decision came after journalists signed petitions about free speech in Japan. 

The international Whaling Commission is beginning a five-day meeting to discuss lifting a 1986 ban on the commercial hunting of shales. Read on Al Jazeera English. 

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Written 6-17-10

In a move that could actually expose more Japanese to Ric O’Barry’s “The Cove” than the original distribution of the film in 20 theaters, Louis Psihoyos’s Oscar-winning documentary about the bloody dolphin hunt in Taiji will be shown free online tomorrow by Niwango Inc., a Tokyo-based Internet services company. 

Ric O’Barry, 70, a former dolphin trainer for the Flipper TV series who is featured in the film, is Japan speakinh to students and others. He said he plans to return with a group of activists to block this year’s hunt in Taiji. 

Nationalist pressures to shut down screenings of the film have raised free-speech debate in Japan. 

“A work of genius, a flop or a monstrosity — the film must be seen first,” said newspaper The Nikkei in an editorial. “If it is forced to be cancelled throughout Japan, that only hands a medal of honour to a very cleverly made propaganda work.” via CBC Canada

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