An Alabama Atheist activist has been monitoring the progress of
Darlene Lieblich's movie "Heart of the Beholder." Some theists are
attempting to block the showing of this movie at the Cannes Film
Festival.
The activist sent a letter to the Cannes Film Festival and encourages
you to send similar letters to these two e-address:
Cinefondation@festival-cannes.fr and df@festval-cannes.fr.
Cannes Film Festival:
A new film being introduced, “The Heart of the Beholder”, contains an
important message concerning issues of freedom of speech and
individual liberties within our communities. This film exposes the
savage, immoral and anti-democratic tactics used by religious
hate-groups in the United States in order to suppress the freedom of
citizens to view controversial films and decide for themselves which
works have merit. By acting as the sole judges of morality and
decency, they would deny us and have denied others the right to make
those decisions for themselves.
“Christians” object to this film, although probably none has viewed
it, because it exposes the strong-arm tactics which were used in the
recent past by their “religious” kind to destroy independent
businesses whenever those businesses run counter to their bigoted
demands. For the sake of future quality of the film industry, I
urge you to consider, “The Heart of the Beholder”, on its merits and
not on the basis of objections of religious hate-groups.
Thank you.
http://www.beholder.com/index_fl.htm
Heart of the Beholder
TAGLINE: Rocky versus the Religious Right
Synopsis
(Based on a true story. Names have been changed)
Mike and Diane Howard were a typical young couple with dreams of
raising a family and starting a business of their own. They opened
the first videocassette rental store in St. Louis in 1981. It was a
tremendous risk trying to balance a new baby and a new business, but
they believed in the American Dream. With hard work, their company
grew into a multi-million dollar chain of stores.
During the growth of the company, the Howards were visited many times
by a group of religious people called the Citizens For Decency. The
CFD insisted the Howards remove movies from their stores that they
felt were "...obscene or a detriment to the community and its
children." Films such as Taxi Driver, Agnes of God, Blazing Saddles,
Animal House, Mr. Mom, and many more were targeted. The CFD also
asked for the removal of the movie Splash, claiming the movie promoted
sex with animals (bestiality) because Tom Hanks makes love to a
mermaid.
When Martin Scorsese's controversial film, The Last Temptation of
Christ, was released on video, the Howards' were the only video stores
in St. Louis unafraid to offer the film for rent. The CFD declared
war with pickets and boycotts. They harassed the Howards and their
employees, vandalizing stores and cars. The situation worsened when
the couple received death threats to their little daughter saying she
would be "... sent back to God to be reborn to parents who worship the
Lord."
When the Howards refused to buckle, the CFD blackmailed the
Prosecuting Attorney with information about the prosecutor's secret
sex life. The prosecutor had no choice but to ruin the Howards any
way he could. He filed obscenity charges against the Howards and,
misusing the RICO racketeering laws, he confiscated every movie from
every store. The prosecutor fed the media vague details about
investigations alleging that the Howards had ties to organized crime.
The Howards' friends distanced themselves and they were shunned as
social outcasts. The Howards won their court case, but the negative
publicity and legal fees bankrupted their business and harmed their
family.
Unemployable and in the deepest of depressions, Mike's thoughts were
of suicide. After an aborted attempt, he pulled himself together with
renewed strength. An unexpected meeting with a former prostitute made
everything clear. The woman had fallen into the religious group after
leaving the sex business. She found the emotional acceptance she
needed by picketing gay funerals, abortion clinics, and anything else
the CFD decided to target, which included the Howards' video stores.
The Prosecuting Attorney had been a regular customer of the woman and
she had told the religious group about the Prosecutor's hidden sex
life. She felt terrible about what had happened to the Howards and
agreed to help set up a sting to expose the corrupt prosecutor.
Everything that could go wrong did, but revenge is not for the timid.
It's rare that the powerless can beat the odds, but this film is Rocky
versus the Religious Right, and the fight isn't over till it's over.
This sounds like a great movie folks, so let the market decide the
worthiness of this film on its merits rather than having it censored
by a group who hates to see the truth being told about their Nazi
stormtrooper tactics!
Robert
"[The Bill of Rights is] designed to protect individuals and minorities against the tyranny of the majority, but it's also designed to protect the people against bureaucracy, against the government." -- Judge Lawrence Tribe
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