The Walt Disney Co. said on Friday it ceded all rights to the Fahrenheit 911 documentary film critical of US President George W. Bush to two of its studio executives, who will hold rights personally.
The move completes the withdrawal by Disney from the film by director Michael Moore, which won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival and describes ties between the Bush family and prominent Saudi families, including that of Osama bin Laden.
The documentary also explores the US government's role in the evacuation of bin Laden relatives from the US after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Disney said that executives Bob and Harvey Weinstein of its Miramax Films subsidiary had personally acquired the rights to the film.
The Weinsteins "will also be responsible for all costs to finish the film and all marketing costs not paid by the film's distributors. Under the agreement, the Weinsteins will arrange for worldwide distribution for the film in all windows, including theatrical and home entertainment."
The Weinsteins will be able to distribute the film "through third parties or may distribute the movie personally in certain markets," the statement said.
The statement said the Weinsteins will use a Paris-based sales agent to negotiate international distribution arrangements. But it gave no indication of any plan to distribute the film in the US.
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
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