- CANNES -- The White House
tried to halt the making and release of Michael Moore's new film Fahrenheit
9/11, the film-maker alleged in Cannes on Sunday.
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- The director told a Cannes audience the Bush administration
wanted to keep the film off screens in the run-up to November's US election.
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- The film examines the Iraq war and alleges connections
between the Bush and Bin Laden families.
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- Fahrenheit 9/11 is to get its world premiere in Cannes
on Monday.
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- Film studio Disney had backed out of a deal to distribute
the film in the US for political reasons, Moore says.
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- He has given no evidence to substantiate his allegations,
but said "someone connected to the White House" and a "top
Republican" had put pressure on film companies not to release the
film.
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- Moore said the few who had seen the film had told him
"the potential for this film to have an impact on the election was
much larger than they thought".
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- Undercover in Iraq
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- The film was originally scheduled to be released through
Disney-backed independent studio Miramax, before Disney blocked it.
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- It is now expected to be released through a third party.
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- Disney accused Moore of engineering a dispute about the
film's release to gain maximum publicity. It said it had blocked the film
because it wanted to be impartial during the election, but strongly denied
coming under any outside pressure.
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- The director has already shown the film at test screenings
in the Midwest of the US.
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- "The reaction was overwhelming," he said. "People
who were on the fence - undecided voters - suddenly weren't on the fence."
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- No-one from the White House was available to comment
on his remarks.
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- Moore has also revealed that he had three undercover
film crews embedded with US troops in Iraq.
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- "I was able to sneak three different freelance crews
into Iraq," he said on Saturday.
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- The soldiers had "expressed disillusionment that
they had been lied to", said Moore.
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- The film from Iraq was a "very important" part
of the documentary, he added.
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- "It is certainly something the Bush administration
does not want people to see," said Moore.
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- © BBC MMIV http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3719261.stm
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