Just hours before the film was set to be screened at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado, singer Aretha Franklin was granted an injunction to stop the screening of Amazing Grace.
Earlier on Friday, Franklin’s lawyers filed an emergency injunction motion to stop the concert documentary from being shown. The film was shot by the late director Sydney Pollack in 1972, but has never been officially released. The Telluride screening at 7:30 p.m. was supposed to be the film’s world premiere. It was also scheduled to be screened during the Toronto International Film Festival next week.
However, after a 90-minute court hearing, U.S. District Judge John Kane granted the motion, reports The Hollywood Reporter. The ruling, which can be read in full here, confirms that producer Alan Elliott did obtain the rights to the concert footage in 2008 from Warner Bros. But he still needed Franklin’s permission to show it publicly and he never got it.
Kane stopped the film from being screened for at least 14 days. The judge later told THR that the issue was contractual and did not deal with the First Amendment.
The ruling will not immediately stop the screening in Toronto, so Franklin’s attorneys will have to file a similar motion in Canada. The legendary singer’s Detroit attorney told THR that they do plan on doing just that.
Amazing Grace featured footage from Franklin’s famous performance at the New Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles in 1972. While the concert resulted in a popular live album, Pollack was not able to get the best sound at the venue and his film was not released at the time.
image courtesy of Jennifer Graylock/INFphoto.com