Swedish MPs back filmmaker's battle with US food giant
Published: 1 Oct 09 17:37 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/22416/20091001/
Several members of Sweden’s parliament expressed their support on Thursday for a Swedish-made documentary film that is the target of a lawsuit by Dole Foods.
- US food giant sues Swedish filmmaker (10 Jul 09)
- Animal rights activists force restaurant closure (25 Jun 09)
- Swedes back punitive tax on junk food (24 Mar 09)
Dole recently filed a lawsuit against Fredrik Gertten, the Swedish filmmaker behind the movie, claiming the film is inaccurate and defamatory toward the company.
The food giant was also successful in blocking a previously scheduled screening of the film in Los Angeles.
Dole’s actions caused two Swedish parliamentarians, Mats Johansson of the Moderate Party and Social Democrat Luciano Astudillo, to schedule a screening of the film in a show of support for Gertten.
Following the showing, a petition circulated through the packed house urging Dole to drop their lawsuit.
Among those in attendance was attorney Percy Bratt, current chair of the Swedish Helsinki Commission, who expressed his support for the film and its creators.
“It’s not just hot air or empty rhetoric from my side. We can’t accept that filmmakers are silenced in this way,” he told the Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper.
“Besides, the film is really good and gives the underprivileged a chance to have their criticism of a big company heard, so this is really about the heart of freedom of speech, one of the most sacred parts of our constitution, and something that all politicians, lawyers, and journalists need to support.”
In its lawsuit, Dole requests that the Bananas!* be banned and that Gertten be prohibited from commenting on the company, a set of demands that Moderate Riksdag member Hans Wallmark finds hard to accept.
“It’s not even about Dole,” he said of the film to DN.
“But through their lawsuit against the films creators Dole has done itself a disservice.”
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
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No money could have done that better.
The same thing will happen with the Shell lawsuit. Hundreds (if not thousands) of people will be gathered to testify. Many will have never been harmed by the company, but the promise of free money will lure them, and the law firm will get extra tens of millions of dollars, all for a little white lie. No one gets hurt, well except those working for the company who are laid off due to the financial strains, oh and the workers that actually WERE harmed and have to accept a much smaller settlement due to the freeloaders. Sick that this movie promotes this.
From the letter sent to the Swedish MPs from Dole Foods:
[Bold type added]
Bananas trailer posted before the bottom fell out from under sleazy tort lawyer Juan Dominguez and his tool, Fredrik Gertten... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VYPQ6jJKWY
The blatanty hypocrisy is amazing. I guess being smug is what matters most.
I now would really like to know EXACTLY WHAT the government's rights and responsibilities are when it comes to the PRESS!
Does PRESS only mean WRITTEN information and therefore the government can say ANYTHING they want concerning the other press media???
Enquiring Minds Want To Know!
From a story written by Amanda Bronstad at The National Law Journal, dated July 9, 2009:
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202...&hbxlogin=1
Text Quote:
"On June 20, the Los Angeles Film Festival provided a written statement to audience members saying that "there seems to be little question that the version of reality that the film portrays does not match the reality that emerged in the courtroom ... Nor, given what we now know, do we believe that Bananas! -- in its present form -- presents a fair and accurate account of Juan Dominguez and the Tellez trial," according to the complaint."