Pop Stop

Harvey Weinstein, the autocratic owner of Miramax Films, has come under withering fire recently from fans of Asian cinema who feel that the company is engaged in a nefarious and possibly racially-tinged plot to suppress the release of hot films emanating from the region. The Web Alliance for the Respectful Treatment of Hong Kong Films has posted a Web petition that currently has over 12,000 signatures objecting to the following: the exclusion of original dialog and score, the removal of original footage, the changing of the name and dialog of films and the renaming of films. Timeout New York and the Houston Press both added their voices in the US for the unadulterated release of movies like Shaolin Soccer (少林足球) and Hero (英雄) both of which Miramax have been keeping inexplicably on ice.