“The Cove,” an Oscar-winning film about a dolphin-hunting village in Japan, will be shown in the country from next month, despite pressure from nationalist groups that caused several theaters to cancel screenings.
The domestic distributor, Unplugged, said Monday that six theaters around the country will start showing the movie July 3, with 16 more to show it later.
Initial screenings of the film at three other theaters were canceled early this month after protests by nationalist groups, who say the film is anti-Japanese, distorts the truth, and has deep connections with a militant anti-whaling organization.
The issue erupted into a broad debate on freedom of speech after those theaters pulled out to avoid disruptive protests on their doorsteps. National newspapers widely condemned the cancellations in editorials, and prominent film makers, journalists and lawyers publicly urged theaters not to back down.
“We’ve increasingly been hearing from ordinary customers, who protest and say it is better that we work to show the film so that people can form opinions after they’ve seen it,” said Takeshi Kato, president of Unplugged.
Japanese nationalist groups, known for blasting slogans from truck convoys and handheld loudspeakers, often use the threat of protests as leverage. Several such protests were held in front of Unplugged’s offices in Tokyo, and twice outside Kato’s home, he said.
Similar protests two years ago against “Yasukuni,” a movie about a controversial war shrine, at first led to theater cancellations, but later made it one of Japan’s most successful documentaries.
“The Cove,” which won the Oscar for best documentary, stars Ric O’Barry, a former trainer for the “Flipper” TV show that is now a dolphin activist. It documents how a group of filmmakers use hidden cameras to capture bloody footage of a dolphin slaughter in a small fishing village.
In Taiji, the town where the hunt occurs, the local government and fishing cooperative defend dolphin hunting as a local custom with a long history. The mostly bottlenose dolphins killed in the hunt are not endangered, and hunts are also carried out in other parts of Japan — although very few Japanese have ever eaten dolphin meat.
Taiji fishermen have objected to being shown in the film without their permission. Nationalists have said the film has connections to Sea Shepherd, an anti-whaling group that has been labeled a terrorist organization by Tokyo for its militant actions against Japanese whalers.
The movie includes a sympathetic interview with Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson.
In the version of “The Cove” intended for release in Japan, the faces of most Japanese are blurred out, unlike the U.S. version. Disclaimers have been added, including one that says that data presented in the movie were gathered by and are the responsibility of the film’s creators. The movie cites information about mercury levels in dolphins and falsely labeled dolphin meat that has been challenged by government officials.
O’Barry, who is in Tokyo to promote the movie, denied the film is against Japan.
“My greatest hope has always been that the Japanese people will see the film and decide for themselves,” he said in a statement.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More