The Petition to Disney for Respectful Treatment of Asian films

I would have done this sooner, but unfortunately I haven't been here in this forum for a while now and have been having some problems with the password information (for whatever reason I wasn't getting any emails back when I asked for it until just recently). Anyway, when I read that CHUD posted the news at the front page in regard to the MiramAXE against Asian films thing, I wanted to go a step forward to bring more information if it hasn't been brought up in other threads here about what more can be done.

First, I want to say that although it was admirable that Dave posted the news, the link should have been directly to Kung Fu Cinema.com and it's editorial since the news of MiramAXE's latest actions against HK films and it's fans actually broke out there. Here's a link to that article.

The other reason I am here is to bring to your attention a website and a petition, that I along with others have been running for about a year or so now. If you are a big fan of Asian cinema or film fan in general (which would be obvious if you visit this site along with it's board ), please visit the Alliance website here and the petition here.

Any info or questions you have the Alliance website itself has several sections regarding the situation and what you can do. There is also a message board if you wish to ask any questions or add any comments there or if this thread keeps going I'll be happy to do it here. It also has a ever growing section of cut lists for HK movies released under Disney that I am currently working on. On that page you can check what exactly has been altered and removed from the original HK versions. New ones will continue to be added and some existing ones will be updated (like the Iron Monkey one). If you have only been exposed to the Disney releases of HK films, I urge to keep checking back to that section to see what you have missed and exactly how much has been changed.

The minimum I ask is just to take a few moments of your time to add your names to the petition. As I said, even if you aren't a die hard Asian film fan, you would at least agree that every film maker and film fan have the right to have access to films to be seen the way they were originally intended. In this particular case, Disney have bought the rights to many classics of HK cinema, and not only have been heavily altering the films for some time now, but seem to be bent on preventing the original versions to ever be available in this country, as has been posted on the main page recently. So all we ask is for your support in this as more names would increase the chances of Disney taking note that these films are worth a damn to be released the way they were originally created to an audiences that demands and deserves better.

Thank you in advance.


The Alliance Website

The Petition



This is Gil too...

Well, for those of you who have read my post and decided to sign the petition and sincerely thank you. For those of you who haven't yet, just please take a few moments to do so. It only takes a few seconds and the more names that add on the better it is in the end.

This whole thing isn't just because they are placing embargoes now. It's more than that.

You see, they are not releasing the original versions of these films here. When I mean that, I mean the films are altered in almost ever conceivable way you can imagine. Everything from the title change, to the original musical score removed, to not providing the original soundtrack as an option, to even removing huge chunks of footage from the films. Few might only be a 1 or two mins cut while others go up 20-25mins cut!

On top of that, they are not only retailers based in the US to sell the original versions here (this was what finally pushed us to the creation of the whole Alliance and petition in the first place). What's even worse is that for some of these titles, like Drunken Master 2 or Police Story 3, they own virtually worldwide rights for these films which means they are preventing many other countries from viewing these films the way they were originally intended to be seen.

Now came the recent news of them wanting to prevent imports. This means they want to prevent the original versions of these films from even being an option for someone here to buy!

That is why I urge anyone who reads this to at least support this cause by signing your name to show that you believe in having a choice and an opportunity for you or future fans to see these films the way they were meant to be seen. There is no excuse for a company to give this exclusive treatment to Asian films. None of the other films that Miramax has released from other countries has ever received a treatment of this extent. Even though Roberto Benigni's Pinocciho got cut and dubbed by Miramax, they still offered the original version of the film in it's DVD release! They have yet to do this with any of the HK films they have butchered!

As you can see it's far from a pretty situation. So again, if any of you reading this who haven't done so, sign the petition to help the numbers grow. At least that way Miramax will know that there are X amount of people out there who know very well of what they are doing and want better.

Again, thanks.




This is Gil too...

If you can afford trips back and forth from Asia to America every time a new DVD comes out, then more power to you. Not everyone can offerd that luxury.

Word of note in regard of, to which I believe you mean, Drunken Master 2 since you just mentioned it. That film, thanks to Disney, is not available anywhere properly on DVD. The only version that was uncut on DVD is now out of print and even then it had the movie cropped from a 2:35 scope to 1:85 aspect ratio. All other versions of the film on DVD are cut.

That's mainly what the petition and the website are all about. That's why it's called a petition to Disney "for respectful treatment of Asian films. "




This is Gil too...

To just to let anyone know who has Hero, that the current edit of the film is actually not the director'c cut and was forced upon him by Miramax.

His cut ran 2hrs and Miramax told him they didn't want it longer than 100 mins. All of that was done AFTER Miramax bought the rights to the film which wasn't during the production of Hero but after the film was done and before it's release.




This is Gil too...