Michael Moore, the controversial documentary maker critical of US President George W. Bush, hid his latest movie from US authorities ahead of its screening at Cannes, his producer said Wednesday.
"The film has been placed in a secret location outside the country (outside the US)," a spokeswoman for the Weinstein Company, Sarah Levanson-Rothman said.
Moore, who won the Cannes Palme d'Or in 2004 with Fahrenheit 9/11, is due to present Sicko, his new documentary which takes a scathing look at the US health industry and its powerful insurance lobby, at the film festival tomorrow.
He is currently being investigated by US authorities for making a February trip to Cuba for a segment in the film in which he takes emergency workers from Ground Zero, the New York site of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, to the communist island for medical treatment.
Washington maintains an embargo on Cuba and restricts travel by US citizens there, with exceptions for special cases such as journalists, politicians and those with family on the island. Violators face fines of a few thousand US dollars.
Harvey Weinstein, owner of the Weinstein Company, said that a letter sent to Moore by the US treasury department "suggests that the Bush administration is proactively trying to discredit the film," and that his firm had "taken steps to protect the negative of the film.
"We are doing everything in our power to ensure that it premieres in its entirety on Saturday night in Cannes," he said in a statement.
While mainstream film festivals promote a diet of glitz, glamour and hoards of cash, a Buddhist version makes its Asian debut Thursday seeking to engender world peace and prosperity.
Organizers of the International Buddhist Film Festival said they would use drama, comedy, documentary — and episodes of The Simpsons — to stimulate reflection, dialogue and harmony.
And unlike other festivals, this one will not be handing out any awards.
Films from six countries will be shown at the festival in Singapore, which runs to Sunday, including three making their Asian premieres.
Bhavna Vedhara, executive director of the local organizing committee, said the festival aimed "to encourage conscious thought through contemporary and provocative reflections on Buddhist ideas, using the very potent medium, that of film."
The festival is linked to the California-based Buddhist Film Society whose advisory members include Hollywood actor Richard Gere and the composer Philip Glass.
Similar Buddhist film festivals have taken place in Los Angeles, New York and the Netherlands.
The Singapore organizers said they wanted to promote inter-faith dialogue and the values of "peace, harmony and prosperity."
"Many of the film-makers aren't Buddhists," the IBFF's executive director Gaetano Kazuo Maida said.
"They're artists exploring issues and ideas that are in alignment with many of the wisdom traditions that value compassion. These films can change the way people see the world."
One of the productions making its Asian premiere is a documentary How to Cook Your Life, where San Francisco chef and Zen priest Edward Brown explores principles of Zen Buddhism and how they relate to the preparation of food and life itself.
Among comedic offerings are Buddhist-themed episodes from the hit US series The Simpsons and King of the Hill.
Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yang's (張揚) Shower (洗澡) is a bittersweet comedy set in the outskirts of modern Beijing. It tells the story of a prodigal son who returns home to care for relatives while being forced to confront a modernizing China.
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