This could be trouble

Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney is suing financially strapped distributor THINKFilm because the alledgedly botched the post-Oscar release of Taxi to the Dark Side. THINKFilm disagrees. Valid or not, could Gibney's suit have a chilling effect on small distributors' efforts to push difficult material to the marketplace? (IndieWire)

"ThinkFilm did not disclose to us that the company did not have the financial ability to properly release the picture," Gibney told indieWIRE via email this weekend, in the wake of recent reports of a financial crisis at ThinkFilm (see related indieWIRE article). A copy of X-Ray's complaint to the IFTA, reviewed by indieWIRE, seeks $1 million in damages, payment of legal fees, a termination of its agreement with ThinkFilm, and a return of the film's distribution rights.

Charging that ThinkFilm didnt have the financial resources to properly exploit Gibney's film, the X-Ray complaint contends that ThinkFilm buried the film after its Oscar win and, "jeopardized the success of the film by failing to abide by the terms of contracts it entered into with public relations firms and advisors and failed to pay such firms for work done and expenses incurred." The complaint charges "fraud and intentional and willful breaches of its marketing obligations under the distribution agreement."