The screening of Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki’s animated film “The Boy and the Bird” was canceled in Lithuania. The portal reports this LRT.
According to the publication, Lithuanian cinemas refused to cooperate with the film’s distributor due to its alleged ties to Russia. In October, cinemas were informed that Estonia-based Artgene had acquired the distribution rights for The Boy and the Bird in the Baltics.
As noted on the portal, information also appeared that the French company Goodfellas, which owns the primary rights to the film, sold the rights to distribute the film in Russia, the Baltic states and other countries in the region to related business structures. Capital of Russia.
According to the statement made by Lithuanian cinemas and film distributors, the cancellation of the film’s screening also aims to attract the attention of large sales agencies so that they “are not tempted by the money of distributors with connections to Russia.”
“As the premiere approached, all cinemas that refused to show the film received an official statement from a representative of Artgene, stating that their rights had been transferred from the animation studio to the Baltic countries, as well as stating their situation. It contained some kind of threat that Lithuania would publicly slander the whole world for sabotaging the film,” a statement from Lithuanian cinemas and film distributors said.
Previously Miyazaki’s cartoon broke the US box office record for the first time.