Aretha Franklin Stops Telluride Screening Of 'Amazing Grace' Concert Film
The film 'Amazing Grace' has got attention after Judge John Kane gave a restraining order against the movie being screened at the Telluride Film Festival, due to Aretha Franklin's complaint in Colorado court. The movie documented her legendary church performance in 1972, according to hngn.
The complaint, 10 pages long, was filed on September 4 to prevent the release of the movie by the National Film Preserve. She also asked for $75,000 in damages and threatened that she would file for future damages, so that unauthorized screenings would be prevented.
Hence, a federal judge in Denver granted a temporary order to stop the Saturday night screening, so Franklin issued this statement: "Justice, respect and what is right prevailed and one's right to own their own self-image."
Franklin obtained the right to get permission for any public commercial screening. Sidney Pollack has shot the movie showing the Queen of Soul's 1972 concert at the New Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles.
"Allowing the film to be shown violates Ms. Franklin's contractual rights, her intellectual property rights, her rights to use and control her name and likeness, and represents an invasion of her privacy," the complaint reads. "It is also in direct and specific violation of the quitclaim agreement by which the footage was obtained from the Warner Brothers organization by Mr. Alan Elliott, the purported producer of 'Amazing Grace.'"
The movie will be screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, according to hngn.
"We're proceeding with plans to screen 'Amazing Grace' at TIFF," TIFF Docs Programmer Thom Powers told TMZ. "We haven't heard of any legal procedures regarding the film in Toronto."
