Movie Director Says it is OK to Pirate His Movie
Last weekend, a CAM version of the Norwegian movie “Lange Flate Ballær II” leaked onto several BitTorrent sites. Quite surprisingly, the producer doesn’t hold a grudge against the person who leaked the film. Instead, he thinks it’s an honor that someone took the effort to record it in a movie theater.
The movie, which is highly successful in Norwegian theaters, was posted on one of Norway’s largest BitTorrent sites early Sunday morning. Within hours, hundreds of people had already downloaded the movie, which is directed by Harald Zwart, one of Norway’s most famous directors.
Contrary to what most people would expect, Zwart doesn’t hold a grudge against the people who share his movie online though, as he told Nettavisen.no: “I think it’s perfectly fine that some people choose to post the movie online. It shows that people are interested in it”, says the director, and is supported by Espen Horn – the movie’s producer.
“In the IT society of today it’s naive to think that this wouldn’t happen. We consider it a huge compliment. After all, what has happened is that someone has smuggled a camera into a theater and then recorded the whole movie” he added.
Zwart doesn’t mind that people share his movie online, he did, however, make some negative comments about the quality of the recording. “The movie was filmed using a video camera in a local cinema somewhere. The quality is bad, and the movie definitely is better in theaters,” Zwart said.
Espen Horn, the director of the movie, thinks that piracy is inevitable, as long as there are no alternatives available. Horn said that some forms of piracy are “unfortunate”, but he would rather one “beat the pirates to it” instead of hunting them down. For example, by making the movies available for sale online, soon after they premiere in theaters.
“People today have all this equipment available at home, and it’s a simple thing for them to copy movies and music. This is the time to play on the same team as the ones who make available this kind of materials. I hope those who watch this copy will think the quality is bad, and go watch it at the movies instead.” Horn added.
Indeed, one of the driving forces behind piracy is still the lack of alternatives. Restricting people’s choices often has the opposite effect.
Thanks SantaBJ!
