AND THAT FILM.....
....about Pope John Paul. Made in America, it stars John Voight and has had v. good reviews, and we are blocked from seeing it in Britain. I tried to order a copy from Ignatius Press in America and they couldn't let me have one....the only version they have is available in the USA and can't be viewed on a British DVD machine.
When I mentioned this, I was given information by various kind correspondents about getting my DVD machine sorted out so that it can become "multi-region" and useful for DVDs from around the globe. I might manage to do this (though actually it is NOT AS SIMPLE AS IT SOUNDS) but that is not the point. Rather than alter all our DVD machines one by one, and tell people to try to order this particular film from contacts in the USA, couldn't we simply arrange for some one here to get the selling rights and sell it in the ordinary way? Er...isn't that the usual way that commerce operates? I mean, when I want Belgian chocolates I don't have to post an international money order in Euros to a friend in Brussels. I go to a shop here and buy a box from a large supply that Mr Tesco or Mr Sainsbury has thoughtfully ordered in bulk from Belgium.
Is there any special reason - and here I am not being sarcastic, I genuinely want to know - why no Catholic sales outlet here in Britain has tried to import this new film? Do they really think a film about JP11 wouldn't sell among Catholics?
2 comments:
Joanna,
Getting hold of UK-friendly DVDs of American films is extremely difficult. We have been trying to get a Region 2 (UK & Europe) version of "Therese - The Movie" for UK distribution for the best part of a year now. The film company just doesn't seem interested. Yes, in theory, they say they want to, but then they have to get European rights sorted out, the lawyers are looking at it yadayadaya...
Ignatius Press do some other (what look like) brilliant films - about St Anthony, St Gerard and others. Guess what? No European version available! I suppose the English language market for Catholic films this side of the pond appears like chicken feed to our Stateside brethren, but you'd think they'd WANT to sell their films. Isn't that how they earn their living? I bet if we started making illegal copies of their DVDs that were playable on British DVD players (yes, the technology is available) their lawyers would suddenly get their act together smartish!
Multi region DVD players are now much cheaper I picked one up (UK) for under £30 from a big retailer -- can't remember which one of Comet or Currys but it was a well known store - so it's not quite so difficult as before
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