A US company bought the rights to a documentary about the Charlie Hebdo film. It has been a month now since the deadly attack of an extremist group at the French Satirical headquarters that claimed 12 lives.
Pyramide, which holds the rights to the 2008 documentary film, has sold the film to an American distributor Kino Lorber, reported by The Local.
"We sold the film to American distributor Kino Lorber," said Eric Lagesse, president of Pyramide.
The film is entitled 'It's Hard Being Loved by Jerks' ("C'est dur d'être aimé par des cons"). It presents the behind the scenes look at the workings of the publication, which also a reference to a slogan uttered by the Muhammad in one of Charlie Hebdo's controversial cartoons, reported News Talk.
The documentary directed by Daniel Leconte speaks of the attempt of the magazine to promote freedom of expression which several Muslim activists received with utter disapproval and sought for censorship.
The Muslim leaders claimed in a lawsuit against the magazine that its caricature of Islam is not fair with other religions, which the defense lawyers of Charlie Hebdo responded with a long list of religious leaders that had their share of satire.
It should also be noted that some of those who were interviewed in the documentary were killed in the deadly terrorist attack, reported International Business Times. According to Eric Lagesse, the documentary sold 40,000 tickets on its first release.
The film will now be pitched to arthouse cinemas around the US. It was screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008, but it only received a limited release in France. After the January 7th attack, it has been released again and sold on DVDs.
"We are also in talks with the Swiss, the Italians and the Germans," Mr Lagesse said.
Vice president at Kino Lorber Elizabeth Sheldon believed that the film would serve as a "catalyst of change."
"As a distributor, freedom of speech concerns me at first range and today it is more important to keep defending those ideas," Pyramide's Lagesse said. "More than ever."
Do you think it's a good idea that the rights to the infamous documentary were sold for US consumption? Is this really going to strengthen the freedom of expression that they hope for? Tell us what you think.
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