Lara Means

Still no american distributor. Discuss!

PopcornTreeCt

I haven't seen it but does Cannes have separate categories for documentaries and movies?

wendersfan

No. And I think this may be the first documentary to ever with the top prize there.

PopcornTreeCt

Interesting. Did the movie win anything at Sundance? Because if it won top prize at Cannes and absolutely nothing at Sundance then I would say the voting was politically motivated.

Lara Means

Or maybe they know that Moore is a terrific filmmaker and thought his new one worthy of the prize? Anyways, Fahrenheit 911 wasn't screened at this year's Sundance Festival.

Chrisedge

I thought Focus Pictures signed up to distribute?

silentbob007

I don't see this as any suprise. Moore is obviously passionate about his beliefs, and passion for a subject can really drive up effort into making the film (look at LOTR). That being said, I'm sure that the politics of the situation are also a factor.

Bust

A French film festival giving a prize to an anti-Bush mock-umentary? Well I'll be damned.

TheMadMonk

Works both ways; recently Bush was making jokes about John Kerry's ability to speak French.

Dr. DVD

IF winning the top prize at Cannes doesn't put the pressure on to release it in America I don't know what will. Just having that prestige alone, coupled with the controversy, would almost guarantee the movie to make some money for whomever distributed it.

If Focus releases this movie, then I would say it has an impressive track record when you factor in both Monster and Passion of the Christ.

Mark_vdH

Jacques Coustau's The Silent World won in 1956.

Cardiac161

I highly doubt that this film was released in Sundance. If it did, it would've made a huge hoopla about it.

Nevertheless, I would assume this film won partly because of political motivations. But yet again, we live in politically-motivated times in almost every aspect of our lives.

Having Fahrenheit 911 winning the top Cannes prize is apparently a statement made by the jury who are not all French. It is a French film festival but those who pick the winners, or the jury, are not. Quentin Tarantino heads this panel and among the judges are Hong Kong director Tsui Hark, US actress Kathleen Turner, Belgian director Benoît Poelvoorde, Haitian actresss Edwidge Danticat, US director Jerry Schatzberg, French actress Emmanuele Beart, Finnish filmmaker Peter von Bagh and British actress Tilda Swinton.

As you can see in the list, only Emmanuel Beart was French.

docF94

Congrats to the crew and cast, of course. I doubt this film will get the summer release Moore was hoping for, but I'll bet on a September opening wide - if possible, I bet it opens right before Bush's convention speech just as kids get back to college. Anyway, looking forward to this more than ever. Sounds like Tarantino had a big effect on the prizes this year - heavy on Asian cinema - Reuters article.

Latcho drom.

Dr. DVD

Ah, but was she not a traitor in the first Mission:Impossible? I knew there had to be some foul play!

Trigger

seriously? what an idiot... glass houses - that's all I have to say.

Dr. DVD

I betcha someone or some group will try to delay the film's release until after the election.

silentbob007

That would be a stupid idea ... talk about lending creedance the movie. Let it come out and be over with.

Jackskeleton

that they did. Focus has U.S. distribution. That is a Universal branch which also has a theme park in florida and now has a giant media outlet from parent NBC. should be rather interesting.

smirnoff

is it possible for a canadian distributor to pick it up and release it before it comes out in the states? I can't wait to see this film.

marty888

Roger Ebert (who was co-hosting the IFC live broadcast of the awards (rebroadcast tonight Sat May 22 at 8pm) said that Moore and Weinstein are insisting on a theatrical release for the 4th of July weekend, with the DVD release before the election.

bjh_18

I think this film has every right to be distributed and seen in the U.S., but at the same time a line needs to be drawn between a true documentary and simply a film driven by politics. Fahrenheit 9/11, like Bowling for Columbine, isn't a true documentary. There are too many fudged facts and biased pieces of information. I found Bowling for Columbine to be quite interesting, and it had a few good points (one that comes to mind is the interview with Marilyn Manson), but so much of it was fictional. I have a feeling its the same way with Fahrenheit 9/11 (because Michael Moore will never change what the point of his movies are, not that he should because he's entitled to his opinion, even if he has to lie to get it across)(and yes, there's lying from both sides of the issues). I'll eventually see the film, and I'm sure it has some good points and a few valid arguements, but at the same time, most of it is politically biased. I don't have any problems with him winning at Cannes since that is a movie prize, not a documentary prize (unlike his oscar, which was undeserved in my opinion).

Kaffe_02

Even when it gets released in the US I wont check this out because I dont like Moor's slant.

chanster

Surprise, surprise.

Shannon Nutt

Yes, but the jury isn't made up of Frenchmen. Quentin Tarantino was head of the jury this year...not sure who were the other members - perhaps someone can post a list.

Also, without starting a flaming war, the movie isn't a "Mockumentary". Is it slanted? Sure. But it's not made-up.

Feneant

I love how some people say that the vote was politically motivated or that it was because this festival is in France when an american headed the judges.

Could it be that it was just a good documentary and deserved to win? The festival would not ruin its credibility by giving the top honor to a movie containing false information.