Inspiring true story opening
We are happy to present another gem of a film for its debut in Lethbridge this weekend. “Breathe” is the inspiring true love story of Robin and Diana Cavendish, an adventurous couple who refuse to give up in the face of a devastating disease. The film is rated PG with a mature subject matter warning, and is 114 minutes in length. It will show daily at 1:10 and 7 p.m.
“When Robin is struck down by polio at the age of 28, he is confined to a hospital bed and given only a few months to live. With the help of Diana’s twin brothers (Tom Hollander) and the groundbreaking ideas of inventor Teddy Hall (Hugh Bonneville), Robin and Diana dare to escape the hospital ward to seek out a full and passionate life together — raising their young son, travelling and devoting their lives to helping other polio patients.” — Bleeker Street Films.
Andy Serkis, best known for his roles as Gollum (“Lord of the Rings” & “The Hobbit”) and Caesar (“Planet of the Apes”), makes his directorial debut with this inspiring true story. Written by two-time Academy Award nominated writer William Nicholson, and shot by three-time Academy Award winner Robert Richardson, “‘Breathe’ is a heartwarming celebration of love and human possibility.” — official site.
In unrelated news, I came across an interesting read this past week regarding a U.S.based company by the name of VidAngel, a streaming service that altered copyrighted works to edit out adult language, nudity and violence (a service that once was promised to be available with the advent of DVD but never delivered by the studios).
VidAngel has declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy. They were sued by major studios, including Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, Disney and others, who claimed they were operating as an unlicensed streaming service, and were offering films to viewers outside the studios’ streaming windows.
Their business model involved selling edited DVDs for $20 to users who watched them online, then “returned” them back to VidAngel for $19 — effectively resulting in a $1 rental.
The judge in the case suggested their copies of copyrighted material constituted a public performance of sorts, noting that any sort of ownership in the DVD, would only apply to a physical disk — not a copy saved in a digital format and streamed from its servers. I believe this to be important in the battle against illegitimate streaming services offering absolutely everything for “free.”
Proponents of streaming claim to break no laws — they download nothing and do not use bit torrent software (which has been labelled illegal). Precedent now seems to point to the major studios having a chance to put a stop to, or at least slow down the rampant theft of their copyrighted materials over the internet, ultimately protecting the creators of content. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that if revenues dwindle, or disappear, then little incentive remains to create — that would be a sad day indeed. See you at the movie theatre! Please feel free to contact me with your comments or feedback — even an idea for an article — len@moviemill.com. Hope to see you at the movies!